The king met yesterday with the Minister of Defense to address the "defense" of Ceuta

Madrid / Brussels / BarcelonaAs promised last week by the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, the council of ministers has declassified this Tuesday the reports related to the Ceuta crisis. That is to say, all the documents that were prepared before July 30th regarding the situation in the autonomous city to verify whether or not the crisis situation could have been anticipated by the Spanish executive. "We are fulfilling our commitment to transparency," said the executive spokesperson, Elma Saiz, although it is expected that it will not be until tomorrow, Wednesday, that the media and the public will be able to access the papers. It is also unclear what the scope of the publication will be, although sources from the Moncloa assure that it will include all reports and communications between ministries that took place from July 1st to August 1st. In any case, the Defense department had raised objections regarding the possible impact on other intelligence services. In fact, this Monday, in the midst of the Ceuta crisis, King Felipe VI met with Minister Margarita Robles and the top brass of the Defense department – the Chief of the Defense Staff, the General Commander of Ceuta, and the operational commanders – with the aim of "examining the situation from the point of view of defense".

"We have nothing to hide," said the spokesperson for the Spanish government, Elma Saiz, who detailed that it concerns 40 documents in relation to Ceuta and that, if there are more later on, they will also publish them. "Throughout the day tomorrow you will have access to all the documents," she promised regarding this Wednesday, and added that in case of affecting national security they will go through the path of the Congressional committee on official secrets. However, sources from Moncloa clarify that for now all the declassified documentation can be published for everyone and that it will be uploaded through an operation similar to the 23-F documentation on the Moncloa website. It is expected to be around noon this Wednesday, after the control session in Congress for the Spanish president and the interview that the head of the executive will offer on TVE. From the executive, they do not advance the content for now.

Pedro Sánchez's move comes after the clash of versions between the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defense over whether or not there were warnings about what could happen on July 30. While Margarita Robles assured during her appearance in the Congress of Deputies that there were indeed verbal reports about the spike in entries into Ceuta by the intelligence services, from the Interior and the rest of the ministries they have nuanced that there was no warning from which one could infer an entry of 70,000 migrants on the same day. This was also expressed last Thursday in Congress by Sánchez himself. That is why the photo with King Felipe VI is also relevant, since the Royal Household itself wanted to publicize the meeting through X.

The PP, however, does not trust it. The leader of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has raised the tone this Tuesday. In an interview on Antena 3, he assured that the reports that the government will publish will be "trimmed" and that he trusts much more in the investigation that the National Court has opened regarding the Ceuta crisis. He also took the opportunity to issue a warning if he reaches Moncloa: he has pledged to "shield" the border and to "act and apply Article 8 of the Constitution if necessary." "Article 8 of the Constitution says that it is up to the armed forces, to the land, air and naval army, to guarantee the territorial integrity of our country," he remarked, and added that he wants to have a "good and loyal" relationship with Morocco, but that Spain must also make itself "respected."

"Stop embracing conspiracy theories," Elma Saiz replied to Feijóo. "Being an opposition party that only puts spokes in the wheels does not help Ceuta at all. I demand that you act with responsibility," the spokesperson for the Spanish government exclaimed to the PP. Regarding the judicial investigation opened at the National Court into the Ceuta crisis, the executive has said that it is the "injured party" and that it will appear as such. However, it has not spared criticism for judge María Tardón. The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, has questioned her impartiality: "It denotes distrust," he said about the magistrate yesterday, Monday, on SER, since she had been a PP councilor. Does the Moncloa think the same? Executive sources remark that Puente is an "authorized" spokesperson for the Council of Ministers.

Beyond the declassification of the documents, this Tuesday has also been a day to put figures on the situation in Ceuta, as the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, has reported on it within the Council of Ministers. Torres, in a press conference, has put the number of minors currently registered in Ceuta at 2,004 and has assured that files will be accelerated to prioritize family reunification. At the same time, he has called for the "normalization" of the situation, even though there are parents who have decided not to take their children to school on the day classes began due to "fear" of the streets. Torres, however, said that the presence of all teaching and non-teaching staff was complete and, regarding the children, spoke of an average of 70%.

This noon, Torres himself traveled again to Ceuta, where the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the Minister of Education, Milagros Tolón, are also present, in order to monitor the situation on the ground. Marlaska also expressed that guaranteeing citizen security is a "top priority" for the Spanish government and highlighted that there has been no incident at the start of the school year despite the feeling of "subjective insecurity" that the population of Ceuta may have. The Minister of the Interior defended in a press conference that police forces in the autonomous city have been reinforced with the aim of returning to normality as soon as possible. In the morning, in Madrid, the committee on the autonomous city also presided over by Pedro Sánchez met.

The Ceuta crisis, in Brussels

In any case, in this context, the president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, arrived this Monday in Brussels to ask for support from European institutions because, he maintains, the city is “a pressure cooker that could explode at any moment.” The member of the Popular Party has once again clearly pointed to Morocco as responsible for the “invasion” of July 30th and 31st and has asked the European Union to rethink its “cooperation policy” with Rabat. “You cannot maintain a cooperation policy if borders are not respected,” he asserted, and demanded a “categorical and unequivocal statement” reaffirming that the borders of Ceuta and Melilla “are European.” Vivas has asked that the EU grant “specific treatment” to Ceuta and Melilla, and also that the European Pact on Migration and Asylum be adapted to the unique fact of being “the only terrestrial border of Europe in Africa.” A request that would consist of building “infrastructures” at the border and "the permanent presence of Frontex", the European migration control agency, in the cities.

Also, the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, is in the community capital where he met this Tuesday with the European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner. They discussed strengthening the presence of European agencies, such as Frontex, Europol, and the Asylum Agency, in Ceuta and Melilla. Albares also addressed the crisis in statements to RTVE. He assured that he will ask the European Union for "more attention" and "the same economic aid" for Ceuta and Melilla as for the eastern borders. "It is the only land border that Spain and the EU have with Africa, and that makes it the most unequal and the most complex border to manage on the entire planet. That is what they must take into account," he stressed. In this sense, Albares has assured that he will propose to the European members that Ceuta and Melilla become outermost regions, a new legal status in the EU.