The government of Ceuta threatens to go to court if Moncloa does not resolve the crisis

MadridThe tension between the government of Ceuta and the Spanish executive of Pedro Sánchez escalated this Monday after the president of the autonomous city, Juan Jesús Vivas (PP), threatened to go to court if La Moncloa does not "resolve" the crisis within 30 days. Vivas has been raising his tone for days regarding the future of the people who remain in Ceuta after having entered on July 30: he wants them to be expelled "immediately." And he wants the Spanish government, from whom he requested a single command, to carry it out. If Pedro Sánchez's executive does not act, Vivas has anticipated that he will go to the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, and the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ).

"We will resort to other instances to denounce the situation in Ceuta [...] My intention is to convey the situation [of Ceuta] to the President of the Supreme Court and the President of the Constitutional Court if they wish to receive me. The Judiciary is the cornerstone of the rule of law. Ceuta lives under a state of exception," Vivas denounced at a press conference, after an extraordinary Governing Council. Shortly after, the deputy secretary for institutional regeneration of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, closed ranks with Vivas and opined that the 30 days of ultimatum are a "frankly logical deadline" coming from someone who "knows the gravity of what is happening." In a press conference at the party's national headquarters, Gamarra said that both the president of Ceuta and the popular leadership will go all out to achieve "recovering normality" in the territory.

Although the popular leader did not specify exactly what judicial actions could be initiated, she stated that they would be "whatever it takes." "We will articulate all the mechanisms at our disposal," Gamarra guaranteed. What the PP has done for now is to register a non-law proposal (PNL) in Congress demanding that the Spanish government "put all the necessary means" with "immediate and urgent action" in Ceuta, which involves activating the national security law so that there is this single command and reinforcing immigration personnel to accelerate the returns of immigrants and also border control.

The president of Ceuta has lashed out at the inaction of the Spanish government since tens of thousands of people entered the autonomous city by swimming from Morocco at the end of July. Many of them continue to sleep outdoors, in the Tarajal warehouses or on El Trampolí beach. "In the first days of August, [the Spanish government] tried to mask the reality by claiming that [Ceuta] had recovered normality," Vivas denounced. "Afterwards, there has been almost absolute passivity in taking measures to achieve normality," he added.

Disputes between administrations

This Monday, Pedro Sánchez reactivated his agenda and coordinated a new follow-up meeting on the situation in Ceuta with seven ministers, three of whom will appear in Congress next week to explain how the crisis has been managed – they have not done so in the Senate, as the PP wanted, which also considers this telematic meeting insufficient and criticizes Sánchez for continuing on vacation.

Eighteen days have passed since the migratory crisis, the deadliest on the southern border since records began, and this is the second time the Spanish government has met. His presence in Ceuta has also increased in the last week, with visits from up to five ministers. This Monday it is the turn of the government spokesperson and Minister of Social Security and Migrations, Elma Saiz, who has met with Vivas to discuss in which spaces people can be accommodated, especially unaccompanied minors, who continue to sleep on the street.

In fact, the Spanish government and that of Ceuta already began to look for spaces two weeks ago, as explained by ARA, when the two public schools were enabled as a temporary measure to accommodate lone girls who are more vulnerable due to their exposure to sexual violence and physical or psychological aggression. These spaces, however, must be vacated before the school year begins.

This Sunday, the Minister of Health, Mónica García, asked the government of Ceuta to look for places to house all the people who continue to live on the streets. The head of Health spoke for the first time of a "humanitarian crisis" even though the precarious situation has been suffered for days. Regarding minors, their reception is an autonomous responsibility, in this case, of the local government of Ceuta. However, Ceuta's facilities have been collapsed for days.

"Do not bother Morocco"

Vivas hinted this Monday that during this time, and still now, there could be a hidden intention from La Moncloa not to change the situation in Ceuta. He said that one possibility for this inaction is to "not bother the neighbor in order to maintain what is considered pseudo good relations," he said in relation to Morocco. "That is why there is no firm and forceful action against a hypothetical plan conceived from the other side with the aim of successively hitting Ceuta until its definitive fall [of the autonomous city]," said Vivas. "Hopefully, this is not the situation," he reiterated.

Until now, Pedro Sánchez has avoided engaging in a head-to-head confrontation with Morocco. In fact, the Spanish government has defended that the return to "normality" in Ceuta has been thanks to "coordination" with the Alawite country.