Ceuta crisis becomes a serious test for Europe’s borders and security system

Spain’s enclave of Ceuta is increasingly moving beyond the definition of a local migration emergency and becoming a wider European security problem. After the events of 30 and 31 July, when more than 70,000 people entered the territory, Madrid managed to return more than 90% of those arrivals to Morocco. Yet the crisis did not end there. By 25 August, the Spanish government considered the situation serious enough to declare it a matter of national security interest and establish a unified command structure to coordinate the response. On 28 August, Spain went further and formally requested additional assistance from Frontex, Europol and the European Union Agency for Asylum.

The significance of that request lies in the scale and range of measures Spain now believes are necessary. Madrid is dealing simultaneously with identification procedures, asylum applications, the protection of unaccompanied minors, possible returns, humanitarian accommodation and the restoration of normal economic and social life in Ceuta. Spain is asking Frontex to extend its existing operation, deploy additional officers, maintain satellite surveillance services and prepare to assist with future returns. What began as a mass border crossing has therefore evolved into a test of whether national institutions and the EU’s common border-management system can stabilise one of the Union’s most sensitive external frontiers.

Historic 673-diamond necklace stolen in broad daylight from Vienna museum

Vienna has witnessed one of Europe’s most audacious museum thefts in recent years. On 27 August, two men calmly bought tickets to the Museum of Applied Arts, MAK, entered the building like ordinary visitors and made no attempt to hide their faces. Once inside the Van Cleef & Arpels exhibition, one of them smashed a display case with a hammer and the pair escaped with a historic platinum necklace set with 673 diamonds. The theft took place during normal opening hours and in the presence of visitors. Police obtained clear CCTV images of the suspects, but the necklace has not yet been recovered.

The stolen piece is far more than an exceptionally expensive item of jewellery. Van Cleef & Arpels created it for the Egyptian royal family, and Queen Nazli wore the necklace in 1939 at the wedding of her daughter, Princess Fawzia, to the future Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The platinum necklace contains 673 diamonds weighing more than 200 carats in total. In 2015, it was sold at Sotheby’s in New York for $4.3 million. One of the most recognisable surviving pieces connected to Middle Eastern royal history has now disappeared from a museum in the centre of a European capital within a matter of minutes.

What makes the operation especially striking is its simplicity. According to police, the two suspects did not use a sophisticated cover story, did not enter at night and apparently did not attempt to disable the entire security system in advance.