Southern Europe's anti-immigrant attitude on display as Spain, Italy start checking each other's passports

Key Points:

• Italy has implemented random police checks on travelers arriving from Spain at Barcelona airport, continuing border controls for at least a month following a diplomatic dispute with Spain.
• The controls were introduced after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni rejected Spain's warning to lift its own restrictions by an August 9 deadline, stemming from tensions over migration policies.
• The dispute was triggered by the arrival of 72,000 migrants from Morocco in Spain's North African territory of Ceuta, which led to deaths and criticism of Spanish immigration policies by some EU leaders, including Meloni.
• Italy's border checks are justified under EU rules allowing temporary internal border controls in cases of serious threats, but Italy insists it will maintain the measures until security concerns are fully addressed.
• Meloni's government declared it will not accept external pressure on national security decisions and will only reconsider border controls if there are no risks of migrant waves or security threats to Italy.