On Monday Donald Tusk went back, on social media, over what happened on Friday, 16 October, at the European Council. He said he had had a “fairly tense confrontation” with Pedro Sánchez over the spring mass regularisation. Poland, Italy and Denmark wanted strict measures. El Mundo, on 21 October, is a report of those words, not a new vote. The meeting has already been held.

On Friday Sánchez blocked the hard conclusions. Diplomatic sources, to El Mundo: “It was Spain.” France, Portugal and Luxembourg stood with him. The final text does not name the Spanish regularisation and does not put in a “pull factor”. Leaders “will return” to it at a later meeting. That is a delay, not a written censure.

Tusk: Spanish policy is “ineffective”, an “excessive opening”; “this is not the way.” That is his description, not a Frontex report. The Objective puts 500,000 regularised; Rapporteur speaks of plans for about 600,000. The two figures are not mixed. Ceuta, some 80,000 people in July, is another episode from the spring procedure.

RMF FM, as cited by The Objective: Tusk left the room; Costa called him back; the Czechs and Hungarians did not want to decide without him. A radio account is not the Council minutes. Frederiksen asked Ursula von der Leyen to look at “whether it is legal for one country to do the opposite of the rest.” The question is not a legal opinion. The Commission pledged, at a breakfast of the 18, a proposal by year’s end. A pledge is not law.

Sánchez, after the summit: immigration is a disagreement, but a text was reached in which he feels represented. He spoke of a 30% drop in irregular migration in Europe and 70% on the Atlantic coast. Frontex, for eight months, 35% and 60% on the West African route. Two series. Neither is Monday’s vote.

Tusk’s clip is dated 19 October; The Objective wrote it up on the 20th; El Mundo, the 21st. Three dates, one Friday. Monday’s account does not reopen the conclusions. It is not a second Council.

Image: the Europa building, Brussels, 1 April 2014, Olnnu, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The building in 2014, not the 16 October Council.

Sources consulted: The harsh row Sánchez and Tusk had in Brussels over immigration — The Objective; Sánchez blocks the migration conclusions — El Mundo.