Spain’s foreign minister José Manuel Albares said on 28 August 2026 at the Congreso de los Diputados that a “fake news story” on social media was the immediate trigger for the mass crossings of the border into Ceuta on 30 and 31 July. He also accused Italy and Denmark of showing “a lack of solidarity” with Spain Europe was based on mutual support; without it, there could be no European Union, Albares said.
Albares attributed the origins and amplification of the content circulating online to an “internacional reaccionaria” seeking to divide Europe. He named Elon Musk, owner of the X platform, as a prominent amplifier. According to the minister, English-language posts, viral videos and false claims contributed significantly to the heightened perception of the situation. Albares presented these assessments as political opinion; he did not present any robust, independent analysis of how the content had spread at the meeting.
The background is a series of events on the Spanish-Moroccan border, where very large numbers of people reached Ceuta in a short time. Tensions and attacks on migrants and Muslim residents followed in the city, as reported by local authorities and the media. Full, consolidated official figures for border crossings on both days are still not available.
Albares justified his criticism of Italy and Denmark by referring to responses from both governments that had questioned Spain’s crisis management. He pointed to Spain’s previous assistance to partner countries, for example during the migration situation on Lampedusa in 2023, and called for a unified position within the European Union. Madrid said that a lack of solidarity undermined the ability to act together.
It remains to be seen what consequences the strong words will have. Further diplomatic protest notes are possible; practical effects could emerge in cooperation on border issues or the coordination of European measures. At the same time, pressure is growing in Spain to identify and counter misinformation more quickly without curtailing fundamental rights.
What is established is that the statements about causes and responsibility came from José Manuel Albares. Attributions to individuals or international networks remain political assessments in the absence of independent forensic analyses. It is also clear that the events in Ceuta bring together questions of migration policy, digital information spaces and intra-European solidarity—and therefore reach beyond Spain.
Editor: Phillipe Schmidt-Araguin (Article created with AI assistance).