Anna Linford 
EU interior ministers will assess at a meeting on Tuesday whether to reintroduce tighter internal border checks across the Schengen area in response to the Ceuta migration crisis, according to Euronews.
A single government can already reimpose checks unilaterally at its own borders for a limited period by citing a security threat. A bloc-wide response instead requires a Commission proposal and a vote by interior ministers sitting as the Council, authorising coordinated checks across the whole Schengen area rather than one border at a time.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has moved to defuse the stand-off with Madrid, calling for tighter checks and physical barriers to head off that vote, according to Euronews. She has rallied publicly behind Spain after Sánchez accused some European leaders of attacking him rather than offering solidarity, Politico reported, and wrote to him directly in an attempt to defuse the crisis, according to Euractiv.
The push for barriers reads as an attempt to hand ministers a middle option — visible action by Madrid — before the vote, sparing Sánchez a Council decision imposed on Spain from outside. What to watch: whether ministers invoke the bloc-wide procedure Tuesday, and whether Sánchez accepts von der Leyen's barrier proposal in time to blunt it.
