The massive entry of Moroccans through Ceuta, why now?

A week has passed since Pedro Sánchez traveled to Algeria to try to make peace and re-establish political and economic relations that would secure, above all, gas purchases. Relations had been broken after Spain accepted Morocco's plan for the Sahara, which disregarded the claim of self-determination and settled for simple autonomy. And this Spanish capitulation, unforgivable to the Algerians, came years after, in 2021, Spain's reception of Brahim Ghali, head of the Polisario Front, caused a crisis with Morocco that ended with the also illegal entry of 8,000 Moroccans through the Ceuta border. It is these precedents that lead to suspicion that behind what is happening these days in Ceuta there is something more than the will of some young people to force their way into Europe. Although it is difficult to believe that this could happen without, at least, the passivity of the Moroccan side, officially relations between Spain and Morocco are currently good and cooperation is maintained.

The facts are that in recent days hundreds of people have been swimming from Morocco to Spain. Yesterday, moreover, the situation completely overflowed, to the point that thousands entered through the land fence in what seemed like a procession of immigrants that the Spanish border police could not contain and that it is not clear the Moroccan police intended to do so. At the end of the afternoon, the army was mobilized and the EU offered full Frontex cooperation. The situation, however, is currently chaotic, and there are at least seven deaths, so far. There are thousands of young people, the vast majority between 15 and 30 years old, almost all men and of Moroccan origin, who are spread throughout the autonomous city awaiting the possibility of applying for asylum or staying in Spain illegally. The president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, of the Popular Party, has asked the State to take control because, he says, the city is overwhelmed.

It is too soon to calmly analyze the situation. What is clear is that many factors are at play. On the one hand, an internal crisis in Morocco with an excess of disillusioned and unemployed youth who are trying to leave as best they can to seek their future elsewhere, even though they know they will not be very welcome. On the other hand, the clash between different ways of understanding migratory controls. The EU, controlled by conservative forces and fearful of the advance of xenophobic far-right, has just toughened its borders and also its legislation to further block immigration. Meanwhile, Spain is in full regularization process – much criticized, both by the national right and far-right and by the European and international right – and finds itself with a recent Supreme Court ruling prohibiting immediate return if one has entered by swimming. Xenophobic and anti-immigration discourses grow with every image on TV of queues of young people making the victory sign at the entrance to Ceuta, but to combat them, the gravity of the situation that this massive entry represents cannot be minimized either. And, on top of that, it is difficult to do anything without Moroccan collaboration, which will surely have a cost that is currently difficult to assess. The crisis, in any case, is historic and will have a difficult resolution. We will have to see how it evolves.