Ceuta Crisis Speeds Up Italy's Offshore Detention Plan Before EU Talks

After 69,500 migrants returned to Morocco from Ceuta with at least 99 deaths, Italy wants to fast-track offshore detention centres using a June 2026 EU law that authorized them. EU interior ministers meet August 4 as von der Leyen pushes stronger borders and returns. The crisis puts migration externalisation — shifting border enforcement outside the EU — at the bloc's center.