The dramatic footage last Thursday of thousands of migrants entering Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta generated an online frenzy among the far right. And the alarmist rhetoric was also evident in the European mainstream, as EU leaders wasted little time attributing the chaotic scenes to Spain’s liberal immigration policies.

In a letter organised by Italy and Denmark, and signed by 22 EU heads of government, they appeared to blame the crisis on Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez’s recent programme to regularise undocumented migrants, which received more than a million applications. They argued that Europe must “[address] all policies that can serve as pull factors”.

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