Spain announced on August 7 it would introduce temporary border checks on travelers from Italy starting at midnight on August 8 and running until September 7, in direct retaliation for Italy's own Schengen suspension triggered by the mass migrant crossing into Spain's Ceuta enclave on July 30; Spain had first threatened Italy with countermeasures and received a rebuff from Rome before following through

EU interior ministers met in emergency session on August 4 to seek shared lessons after the Ceuta migrant surge killed at least 72 and triggered an unprecedented Schengen suspension by Italy; Spain and other EU member states moved to de-escalate bilateral tensions after days of mutual recrimination; analysts said Italy's suspension of border-free travel with Spain was political rather than operationally effective

The death toll from the mass crossing of migrants from Morocco into Spain's Ceuta enclave rose to 67 on August 1 and reached 72 by August 2 afternoon as confirmed by Al Jazeera; Euronews reported Spain's government had received intelligence warnings of the impending Ceuta migrant surge days before the crisis broke; Spain began construction of a maritime barrier at the Tarajal border area; and 22 European Union leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Romanian President Nicusor Dan, signed a joint letter criticising Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's migration policies

Italy formally suspended the EU Schengen border-free travel agreement with Spain for one month on July 31, closing air and sea crossings to passport-less travel, after an estimated 60,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into Spain's Ceuta enclave in 24 hours; at least 57 died in the crossing. Spain said 37,500 had returned by Friday morning; the EU confirmed none reached continental Europe.

An estimated 60,000 migrants crossed into Ceuta, Spain's North African enclave bordered by Morocco, over several days ending July 31, killing at least 67, NPR and Moroccan outlet Hespress confirmed on August 1, up from 57 confirmed by CNN; Spain deployed military and said most had returned to Morocco; on July 31, Italy unilaterally suspended its Schengen free-movement agreement with Spain, citing the crisis, triggering an EU-level legal dispute; by August 1, 22 EU leaders including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian PM Giorgia Meloni had signed a joint statement opposing Sanchez's migration policies

Spain's government declared a national emergency on the night of July 23-24 after multiple wildfires burned out of control in the Madrid region and the province of Ávila, forcing the evacuation of around 10,000 people; France simultaneously ordered the total evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula in the Gironde and activated the EU's civil protection mechanism as a separate blaze swept the Atlantic coast west of Bordeaux

Spain's Congress of Deputies rejected the Sanchez government's 'senda de déficit' (deficit stability path) on July 23 for the second time, with PP, Vox, Junts, and UPN voting against it, leaving the government without a fiscal framework for future budgets and reducing the margin available to Spain's autonomous communities; the government did succeed in extending its 'plan anticrisis' price-response decree

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited fire-hit Guadalajara on July 22, announced EUR 300 million for climate and fire response, and called on all parties to sign a 'State Pact' on climate emergency; 22 major fires have broken out in Spain in 2026, four times more than in all of 2025

Spain's Andalusia wildfire that killed at least 12 people in Los Gallardos, Almería province, was declared stabilised on July 12 by the head of the Andalusia regional government; 1,500 people had been evacuated; investigators were working to identify victims and the missing, some of whom were foreign tourists caught in the blaze

Corruption prosecutions of sitting and former leaders are simultaneously claimed as accountability and condemned as political persecution, a dual-use mechanism reshaping governments across five continents.

5½ hours answering for a string of PSOE probes; the Senate demands a vote he won't give

The first final corruption ruling to reach the PM's inner circle, in the pandemic 'masks' case

A second corruption strand circles Sánchez: kickbacks on public works and an obstruction probe

A Madrid judge sends Begoña Gómez to a jury trial on graft charges, deepening the corruption siege around Spain's prime minister