The Schengen agreement eliminates border checks and now encompasses more than 450 million people and 29 countries in Europe.

Finland and Denmark backed Italy’s move, while Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš urged a temporary suspension of Spain’s Schengen membership.

Italy, along with Denmark and 20 other nations, later sent a letter expressing their concern over the Ceuta migrant crisis, and calling for a meeting of EU ministers.

In response, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he had “serious concerns” about some European governments and pointed out that Ceuta was not part of the Schengen area.

While most had shown “support and solidarity”, he said other European governments had chosen to attack Spain, “driven by prejudice, fake news, ignorance, or political interest”.

Speaking after the meeting on Tuesday, Grande-Marlaska said the Schengen zone had not been compromised and that he hoped Italy would lift any added controls “as soon as possible”.

Denmark’s immigration minister Morten Bødskov said he was “very satisfied” with Spain’s quick response, but added that the incident showed “it is absolutely crucial that we have control over the EU’s borders”.

Speaking afterwards, EU commissioner Magnus Brunner said the incident had been a “test” of European resilience and border security – which he said it had successfully “passed”.