The images about Ceuta are repeated once again. They show thousands of young people arriving by sea, exhausted, but also families and even babies. We see how the Civil Guard is unable to do anything, paralyzed by what most media outlets do not hesitate to call an "avalanche". Beyond the beach, we know of overwhelmed reception centers and hundreds of people sleeping rough. Images of closed shops also arrive, of a completely paralyzed city.In this context, Ceuta is requesting the declaration of a national emergency while the Spanish government continues to praise the Moroccan "exemplary collaboration" and the Moroccan government remains silent. All in all, a déjà-vu. It seems incredible how the staging of chaos can follow such a precise pattern.But where we should focus our attention is on the causes and consequences of this theatricalization. Among the causes, what makes it possible is the willingness of thousands of young people to jump to the other side at any moment. Many of them do not notify their families until they have already arrived. Some come from afar. They are willing to leave everything because deep down they feel they are leaving nothing behind. Some do not work or study. Others are young people with studies but with few future prospects.Their demands became clear with the mobilizations of the so-called "Gen Z" during the autumn of 2025, which denounced the deterioration of public services (especially healthcare and education), youth unemployment, and corruption. As the Bulgarian political scientist Ivan Krastev recalls, "when you can't change the government, you change geography".
But what has made possible the sudden increase in arrivals in Ceuta is that Morocco has stopped controlling the border. This is not the first time. It also did so in May 2021, when more than 8,000 people arrived irregularly in Ceuta in less than 48 hours. At the time, it was interpreted as a response to what Morocco considered a lack of loyalty due to the hospitalization in Spain of the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, but at its core it was also a way of demanding complicity with the issue of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.This time, two hypotheses are considered, not mutually exclusive. On the one hand, it is interpreted as a protest against Pedro Sánchez's visit to Algiers, with which the reconciliation between Spain and Algeria has been staged. On the other hand, it is also thought that it may be a consequence of the Congress's decision to grant Spanish nationality to those born in Western Sahara and their descendants, which is a form of recognition.But the most revealing aspect of this recurring staging of chaos are not the causes but the consequences. And these consequences have to do with the two major traumas that condition migratory debates and policies in Europe today. The first relates to the fear of a new migratory crisis. Since 2015, the European Union has been obsessed with irregular border arrivals, even when numbers have been consolidated downwards for years. A few thousand entries in a few hours do not substantially change the scenario. And it is worth remembering: no matter what Meloni says, the figures for irregular arrivals in Italy are much higher. In 2025, there were 66,328 compared to 36,775 in Spain.figures of irregular arrivals in Italy are much higher. In 2025, there were 66,328 compared to 36,775 in Spain.
The other trauma is the fear that the migratory issue will further fuel the rise of the far-right. Because it does. Analyses of public opinion show that the majority of European citizens do not see immigration as a problem, but rather the perception of a lack of control. This is what the images coming from Ceuta fuel, and this is what the far-right exploits when it talks about invasion and a overwhelmed border. The Trump administration could not help but attribute it to the “far-left globalist policies” and the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs to regularization, which according to him would incentivize the mafias. He ignores that in these contexts there are no mafias because they are not needed.These fears lead Europe, and here is the main consequence of this new episode of staging chaos, to overreact. On the one hand, it is scandalized and ashamed by the "indecent" and "cynical" use that the Moroccan government makes of its own citizens, whom it uses as "weapons" to pressure the neighboring country. It forgets, however, that it was it itself that began to make transactional use of migrations. Money in exchange for control. In this sense, it is we who have put ourselves in their hands. On the other hand, the fears are such that Europe is willing to do whatever it takes to avoid it. The 2021 crisis led the Spanish government to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. This time it remains to be seen what it will end up accepting to re-establish a control that, by definition, will always be as longed for as it is precarious.
