• Majority of EU leaders express "serious concern" over mass influx of migrants into Ceuta, calling for action to safeguard external borders.
• Letter signed by 22 EU member states, led by Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and Danish PM Mette Frederiksen, warns against allowing illegal entry into the EU to turn into legal stay.
• EU leaders criticize Spanish government over handling of crisis in Ceuta, calling for immediate and coordinated European response.

A majority of EU leaders have signed a letter to the European Commission in which they express "serious concern" over the mass influx of migrants into Spain's North African territory of Ceuta, calling on the bloc to take action to safeguard its external borders.

The letter, published by the Italian government on Saturday and signed by 22 of the EU's 27 member states, was put forward by far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

"We cannot allow uncontrolled mass crossings, the instrumentalisation of migration or other hybrid threats to create the perception that illegal entry into the European Union is possible," it states. "That a migrant's illegal entry can turn into legal stay."

"Such a perception would encourage further attempts, undermine confidence in our common migration policy and have repercussions for all Member States."

Some 50,000 migrants had entered Ceuta from Morocco by Friday, arriving in the territory of some 85,000 within only a few days.

At least 67 people died in the attempt to reach Ceuta. While Spanish authorities said most of the migrants have since voluntarily returned to Morocco, several EU leaders have sharply criticized the left-wing government in Madrid over the handling of the crisis.

In the letter, whose signatories include German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, leaders doubled down on the criticism, suggesting that a recent ruling by Spain's Supreme Court was responsible for the sudden surge in arrivals.

EU leaders called for "an immediate and coordinated European response," urging the Irish Council presidency to urgently convene an Interior Ministers meeting for that purpose.