Sánchez flies to Lanzarote vacation amid Ceuta migrant crisis, posts summer playlist and draws fire

A holiday amid crisis

Pedro Sánchez touched down on Lanzarote at midday on 1 August 2026, beginning a summer break that Spanish media say will keep him at the official residence of La Mareta in Costa Teguise until at least 24 August. He arrived aboard an Air Force Falcon with his wife Begoña Gómez, one day after visiting Ceuta, where roughly 50,000 migrants had crossed the border in the preceding 48 hours. Spanish authorities say 48,000 of those arrivals were returned to Morocco, but the images of the surge have rattled European governments and prompted calls for an extraordinary EU interior ministers' summit.

The playlist that ignited outrage

Before departing, Sánchez recorded an Instagram video in which he appeared relaxed and smiling, sharing a Spotify playlist he described as the soundtrack of his summer.

“I've prepared a playlist with some of the songs I've been listening to most this year. It's quite eclectic.”

The three tracks he named were "El Baifo" by Quevedo, "SS26" by Charli xcx and "Tantas Cosas" by Melani. The post was immediately met with a wave of incredulous reactions on social media, with users asking "Aren't you ashamed?" and some calling for his resignation. Supporters countered that criticism would have arrived regardless of whether he had posted anything.

Opposition seizes the moment

Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the conservative Partido Popular, flew to Ceuta and framed the migrant arrivals in the harshest terms.

“It is a premeditated and unprecedented occupation.”

He blamed the government for a "triple failure" of migration policy, security and foreign policy, describing the executive's response as "tardy" and "insufficient" and demanding explanations on what went wrong in cooperation with Morocco. For the PP, the crisis is an opportunity to weld together accusations of weakness on border control, national security and foreign affairs into a single indictment of what it calls "sanchismo".

European echoes

The fallout quickly crossed borders. Italian MEP Nicola Procaccini, co-president of the European Conservatives and Reformists group, called Sánchez's video "surreal" and noted that his group had requested an extraordinary sitting of the European Parliament to address the situation in Ceuta.

“The Spanish prime minister posts a video to tell everyone he is on holiday in Lanzarote and has a music playlist to recommend for the summer. Frankly, it seems surreal to me.”

Procaccini then addressed Elly Schlein, leader of Italy's Democratic Party, asking whether she still considered Sánchez a European leader worth emulating.

What comes next

Sánchez's agenda has not yet been published by Moncloa, and a no-navigation zone for security reasons will remain in force around Lanzarote until 24 August. The extraordinary EU interior ministers' meeting is expected to take place in the coming days, while Feijóo's visit to Ceuta signals that the PP intends to keep the migration emergency at the centre of the political debate throughout the summer.