The reports on Ceuta have already been declassified: when will it be possible to access them?

Madrid / Brussels / BarcelonaAs promised last week by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the Council of Ministers 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 check whether the Spanish executive could have anticipated the crisis situation or not. "We are fulfilling our commitment to transparency," said the executive's 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 Moncloa assure that it will include all reports and communications between ministries that were produced from July 1st to August 1st. In any case, the Ministry of Defense had raised objections regarding the potential impact on other intelligence services.

"We have nothing to hide," said Saiz, who detailed that it involves 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, adding that in the event of any impact on national security, they will go through the Congress's Official Secrets Commission. However, sources from Moncloa clarify that for now, all the declassified documentation can be published for everyone and will be posted 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 Prime Minister and the interview the head of the executive will offer on TVE. The executive has not disclosed 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 regarding whether or not there were warnings about what could happen on July 30th. While Margarita Robles asserted during her appearance before the Congress of Deputies that there were indeed verbal reports about the surge in entries into Ceuta from intelligence services, the Interior Ministry and the rest of the ministries have clarified that there was no warning from which an entry of 70,000 migrants on the same day could be inferred. This was also expressed last Thursday in Congress by Sánchez himself.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 the government will publish will be "cut" 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 the Moncloa: he has committed to "shielding" the border and to "acting and applying Article 8 of the Constitution if necessary". "Article 8 of the Constitution says that it is up to the armed forces, the army, air force and navy, 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 Spanish government spokesperson exclaimed to the PP. Regarding the judicial investigation opened at the National Court on the Ceuta crisis, the executive has said that it is an "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 the SER, given that she had been a PP councilor. Does the Moncloa think the same? Sources from the executive 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 to 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, estimated at 2,004 the number of minors currently registered in Ceuta and assured that files will be accelerated to prioritize family reunification. At the same time, he called for the "normalization" of the situation, despite the fact that 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 staff and non-teaching personnel was complete and, regarding the children, he 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. In the morning, in Madrid, the committee on the autonomous city also chaired by Pedro Sánchez met.

The Ceuta crisis, in Brussels

In any case, in this context, the president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, arrived in Brussels this Monday to request support from European institutions because, he maintains, the city is “a pressure cooker that could explode at any moment”. The Popular Party member has again clearly pointed to Morocco as responsible for the “invasion” on July 30 and 31 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” that reaffirms that the borders of Ceuta and Melilla “are European”. Vivas has requested 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 “Europe’s only land border in Africa”. A request that would consist of building “infrastructure” at the border and "the permanent presence of Frontex", the European migration control agency, in the cities.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, is also in the community capital and 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. This is what they must take into account", he stressed. In this sense, Albares has assured that he will propose to European members that Ceuta and Melilla become outermost regions, a new legal status in the EU.