Sánchez announces that King Felipe VI will visit Ceuta and defends Morocco: "The cooperation was instant"
The Spanish president, who says he will finish the term and re-nominate himself, points to the "reactionary international," Russia and Israel as the origin of the crisis
MadridThe Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, broke his silence this Monday after a month without speaking publicly amid an unprecedented crisis in Ceuta and made an announcement: he assured that there are "arguments and reasons" for King Felipe VI to visit the autonomous city for the first time. However, he did not specify when this trip would take place: "The visit will happen," he limited himself to saying.
The fact that the monarch visits the autonomous city is an exceptional matter and a fact that had generated controversy because the right wing insinuated that Felipe VI wanted to go there and the Spanish government did not authorize it. This Monday, in an interview on the Ser, the Spanish president wanted to dispel doubts about his will: he showed himself to be in favor of the king going, considering that in twenty years of reign the Royal House has not set foot there. The last and only time in democracy a head of state went to Ceuta was in 2007, with the visit of Juan Carlos I and Sofia, but it generated a clash with Morocco due to its claim over the territory and was read as a "provocation".
Sánchez waited until this Monday, after an escalation of tension in Ceuta, to explain the Spanish government's management of the Ceuta crisis. Despite the opposition's criticism, he assured that he had "worked" this summer and had been in charge of the situation, but he also defended his right to "rest" against those who reproach him for taking holidays. "It is a right that we politicians also have," he said, although he assured that a prime minister "never disconnects and is 24/7 attentive to the country." Furthermore, he not only defended his management without self-criticism, but also showed himself willing to finish the term again: "It lasts four years," he recalled, without specifying whether the elections will be held during the first quarter of 2027, before the municipal and regional elections, as some critical socialist leaders are asking him to do; or afterwards. He also reaffirmed his intention to lead the PSOE again in the next elections.
The Spanish president began the interview by giving figures on Ceuta and talking about the origin of the massive migrant entry: he said that around 72,000 people entered and that currently 5,000 remain in Ceuta, 1,200 of whom are minors. What Sánchez didn't know how to say is how many are currently being attended to: "In a short time we will have the capacity to welcome them." Regarding the origin of the crisis, he absolved Morocco of responsibility and assured that its collaboration was "instantaneous". "Cooperation with Morocco is positive," he asserted, adding that thanks to agreements with the Alawite country, irregular entries have been reduced, beyond what happened on July 30. Furthermore, he reaffirmed that without getting along well with the Alawite country, the crisis cannot be resolved.
He admitted, in any case, that right now he cannot explain the precise origin of the crisis, but he has indicated that it does not have to be a "state actor". As he said, they are "investigating" the origin of the massive influx of migrants, but he cited a "misrepresentation" of the Supreme Court ruling rejecting "hot returns" forever, the role of mafias as well as an amplification of 'fake news' by the "reactionary international", Israel and Russia.
Sánchez stressed that Ceuta and Melilla are two very complex places, as it is the only land border between Europe and Africa, a very unequal border, and that "security cannot be guaranteed 100%". In fact, he assured that "the majority of migrants who entered did so for economic and not humanitarian reasons", so he predicted that most people will have to return to Morocco because they will not have the right to asylum. In this regard, he said that the priority of the Spanish government is to return the migrants and resolve the files in the autonomous city itself, without transferring them to the peninsula.
The warnings from the CNI
Were there warnings or not from the CNI to prevent the situation? Sánchez has defended that there was no information about the magnitude of the massive entry of migrants. He stated that the CNI warned of a rebound in entries to Ceuta by swimming, but not of the magnitude of what happened, so the reinforcement that took place at the border was not sufficient. "Nobody predicted that we would have an entry of those characteristics," he asserted, adding that in his opinion there is no contradiction between what Defense says —which said there were CNI reports— and Interior —which states that there were no warnings to interpret that a massive entry would occur—.
This Monday, the ministers of Youth, Sira Rego, and of Equality, Ana Redondo, will also appear to account to Congress for their management in Ceuta, while this Tuesday the council of ministers will approve a new package of measures for the autonomous city. Throughout last week, a dozen ministers appeared, but they did not resolve the doubts about the management: Interior and Defense clashed over whether there was a CNI warning about what could happen and the explanations about the origin of the crisis from the rest of the portfolios also did not convince the opposition.