Italy prolongs Schengen suspension with Spain, talks loom

ROME, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Italy has extended by another week its suspension of the European Union's border-free travel arrangements with Spain over a surge in migrant arrivals in Ceuta in late July, an Italian government source said on Friday.

A Spanish government spokesperson said the interior ministers of both countries would work over the coming week on lifting the border controls.

The latest extension by Italy aligns with the countermeasure taken by Madrid, which recently extended its own Schengen suspension with Rome until October 22.

Italy first suspended Schengen arrangements with Spain on July 31, in response to a border rush by more than 72,000 migrants into Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco, and has repeatedly prolonged the measure.

Rome has argued the presence of thousands of illegal migrants in the Spanish territory posed significant risks to internal security and represented a potential threat of terrorist infiltration.

Madrid has described Italy's actions as "unjust, contrary to European Union interests, and discriminatory to the population of Spain".

The Spanish government spokesperson said the upcoming talks between the interior ministers followed a conversation between Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni on the sidelines of the European Council summit this week.

The Italian government source said only that the ministers would in the coming days explore alternative forms of cooperation between the two countries.

(Reporting by Alvise Armellini in Rome and Victoria Waldersee in Madrid, editing by Giulia Segreti, Andrei Khalip)