This Wednesday, the nearly fifteen million Moroccan citizens registered in the electoral census are called to participate in legislative elections held in an atmosphere strained by the Ceuta crisis and all its ramifications. In a political landscape dominated by monarchist parties, which govern in a coalition executive led by Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, the election results are not expected to bring any significant political change to the House of Representatives, which consists of 395 members. One of the main questions surrounding the elections is what the abstention rate will be, which analysts predict could be very high given the disillusionment with the political class among a large part of the population.

The border between Ceuta and Morocco will wake up this Wednesday with more security than usual. Faced with messages on social networks about a new attempt to cross the border taking advantage of the call for legislative elections in the North African country, the Spanish government has decided to reinforce the personnel of the State's security forces and bodies in the autonomous city. The decision became known the same day that Pedro Sánchez acknowledged, from the United States, that "it is clear" that "Morocco's border control mechanism failed" with the massive entry on July 30 and 31. "We have requested answers and actions [from the Moroccan authorities]," said the Spanish president this Tuesday in an interview with CNN in which he raised the tone with Morocco.

Alberto Núñez Feijóo has returned to Ceuta for the fourth time. This time, however, he has done so accompanied by the president of the European People's Party, Manfred Weber, to reinforce the message of the Spanish conservatives regarding this migration crisis and to illustrate the calls to "Europeanize" this Spanish enclave in North Africa. The message from the two conservative leaders has gone in the same direction as that of the president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas: that the migrant minors who entered the autonomous city on July 30 and 31 must be returned to Morocco.

Many things have happened this week, and the most important one (even if it seems so) is not that Florentino Pérez is going to Ceuta today to make a resounding profession of the Spanish identity of Madrid and Ceuta. A kind of “how could I not love you”, if I am Madrid.But today the news in Ceuta is that the thousands of people who were living in poor conditions on the beaches have finally been moved to the city's port, where a decent camp awaits them. It has taken a month and nineteen days for the president of Ceuta, the Spanish government, the judiciary, and the police unions to agree and stop preventing it. A shameful management. By the way, very far but very close to Ceuta, in New York, the governments of Morocco and Israel have signed the agreement by which Rabat and Tel Aviv elevate their diplomatic relations to the embassy level, and they will soon exchange ambassadors. Morocco is not only the neighbor that holds the key to African immigration to the EU, but it also reinforces its long-standing alliance with the United States, now with Trump.But, of course, in a week where the topic of debate has been whether AI could kill us all before 2030, any other news seems small. In reality, everything matters. If we talk about ourselves, it has begun, as you know, the trial of the four national police officers accused of torture and injuries resulting in the loss of an organ, when they fired the rubber bullet that left Roger Español blind in one eye on October 1st. The day before yesterday they said that the operation was “absolutely perfect”, and yesterday the police officers declared, very remorseful, as proof of the aggression with which they were received, that people were shouting “Españolazos” at them, that they were only defending themselves, that they gave warnings and that they were not going to cause harm but to deter. And they said this with Roger Español present there.Police: “The very aggressive manner in which the public gathered there was throwing objects, mm, stones, cobblestones, bottles, from... from the facades they were also throwing them, and their physical integrity was at serious risk. This is more than enough, more than enough, to be able to use the riot control equipment that the intervention units are legally equipped with, which are not harmful, mm, they are not... They are deterrent. They are not harmful, they are deterrent.”But the moment that sums it all up is this one. The judge calls a Catalan interpreter, who gets so nervous that she cannot interpret anything.

Israel and Morocco have agreed to take a new step in the diplomatic rapprochement initiated in 2020 and elevate their diplomatic missions to the rank of embassies, with the commitment to appoint ambassadors in both countries. The meeting in New York between the Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa’ar; his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita, and the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, took place one day after the sixth anniversary of the Abraham Accords, the framework promoted by the Donald Trump administration that allowed for the resumption of relations between Israel and several Arab countries.During the meeting, the three governments reaffirmed their commitment to these agreements and announced a series of measures to deepen the ties between Rabat and Tel Aviv that go beyond the opening of embassies. Among these measures are the expansion of direct flights between Israel and Morocco, operated by Israeli and Moroccan airlines, and the establishment of two agreements on investment protection and the avoidance of double taxation, with the aim of boosting commercial and business exchanges. Both measures are expected before the end of 2026.“The friendship between the Moroccan and Jewish peoples has deep roots and a rich history,” stated Israeli Minister Sa’ar after the meeting. “The declaration we signed today establishes practical paths to elevate relations between Israel and Morocco for the benefit of both peoples, and we will work to implement it,” he added. In a statement issued by the American mission to the UN, Washington, Rabat, and Tel Aviv have argued that deeper regional integration, built on this foundation, can contribute to “more peace, stability, and shared prosperity in the Middle East and beyond”.One more step towards the normalization of relations

The New York announcement formalizes a relationship that, in some areas, has already deepened considerably since 2020, when Morocco resumed relations with Israel within the framework of the Abraham Accords, promoted by the US administration. At that time, in exchange for the rapprochement between Rabat and Tel Aviv, the Donald Trump administration recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. Previously, Rabat had broken off relations with Israel in 2000 following the second Palestinian Intifada.Now, the United States and Israel have once again expressed their recognition of Morocco's sovereignty over this territory of the Sahara and their support for the Moroccan autonomy proposal as a basis for a solution to the conflict. For Morocco, Western Sahara remains one of the main axes of its foreign policy. Therefore, the maintenance of American support and the strengthening of relations with Israel have a strategic dimension that goes beyond diplomacy and commercial exchanges and which are developing as solid bilateral relations in various areas, such as military cooperation. “Defense collaboration is especially important in this context and has favored it,” explains Intissar Fakir to ARA, director of the Middle East Institute research center and specialist in Moroccan politics. “This cooperation has developed to include sophisticated exchanges, strategic arms acquisitions, and close bilateral cooperation that has reinforced Morocco’s capabilities and provided Israel with an important partner in North Africa,” adds Fakir. For the expert, although the United States has been vital for the establishment of this relationship, the bond between Morocco and Israel has developed its own solid foundation for the future.The New York announcement comes at a particularly delicate moment for relations between Morocco and Spain, following the Ceuta crisis and the accusations by the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, against Israel for having contributed to spreading and amplifying disinformation regarding Spanish migration policy during the episode. Israel denies these accusations, while Rabat rejects that the Moroccan authorities planned the massive entry into Ceuta and accuses certain Spanish political sectors of using Morocco as an argument in internal politics.

]]>

Sonia Moreno is a journalist, former correspondent in Rabat for various media outlets such as Cadena SER and El Español, and author of the book Marruecos, el vecino incómodo (La Esfera de los Libros, 2025). It is now more relevant than ever with the Ceuta crisis, as Moreno points out the keys to understanding what is happening.

]]>

“They live off this imaginary, off the cousin who studied in a public school and now works in what she wants,” says Àsia. She is 24 years old, was born in Catalonia and is the daughter of Moroccans. They often visit family, especially in the summer. “What do they tell you?”, I ask her. “Well, that I can choose and do what I want,” she replies. She recently graduated in law, and is doing an internship at a law firm while studying for a master's degree in legal practice.

]]>

How does an authoritarian regime like Morocco's survive? Through repression. When it falters at the slightest shock, it resorts to what it knows best to silence any serious opposition or any it considers dangerous: first it tries to buy loyalties and, if that doesn't yield results, it brings out the truncheon, imprisons, or, on some occasions in the past, kills. And that is how it has been since the beginning of Morocco's independence in 1956.

]]>

Morocco projects stability, modernization, new and large cutting-edge infrastructure, a stadium that rivals the Santiago Bernabéu to host the final of the next football World Cup, and regional alliances strong enough to bury the Western Sahara issue. But behind this facade, there is a society marked by youth unemployment, political disaffection, territorial inequalities, the crisis of public services, and demographic change. It is the reality from which tens of thousands of Moroccans who saw an exit in Ceuta tried to flee this summer.

]]>

The Moroccan regime sells itself as a success story, a country that has become a regional power, with a privileged dialogue with the EU, the United States, and Israel, and capable of organizing major sporting events such as the 2030 World Cup, together with Spain, for which it is building what will be the largest stadium in the world, with 115,000 seats. Seen from the outside, in recent years Morocco has made a great leap in infrastructure, with the high-speed train between Tangier and Casablanca as its spearhead, and has experienced strong economic growth thanks to foreign investment in strategic sectors such as green hydrogen or fertilizers (thanks to the phosphates of the Western Sahara). But this prosperity is not reaching the population. Salaries are low and jobs are precarious, and in no way is the country capable of absorbing the workforce represented by the youth, as World Bank reports state. This is even affecting the fertility rate, which has dropped to 1.97 children per woman (in the 60s it was 7.2, and in the 90s 3.3), which, even so, is practically double that of Spain (1.1).

]]>

The Dutch sociologist and geographer Hein de Haas (1969) is one of the leading European experts on migration. Director of the International Migration Institute at the University of Oxford and professor at the University of Maastricht, his latest book, The Myths of Immigration (Península), dismantles the discourses on the right and on the left. He has lived and worked in Morocco.

]]>

The declassification and publication of reports from intelligence services and security forces regarding the Ceuta crisis has not improved the position of the Spanish government, quite the contrary. The documents show that the CNI issued warnings, both to Moroccan and Spanish authorities, that a massive call was taking place on social media to enter Ceuta, taking advantage of the Throne Day holiday. Specifically, the CNI alerted that there were "especially active" profiles on WhatsApp and Facebook calling for a massive entry, with a potential reach of 180,000 people.

]]>

On the morning of July 30, the Spanish army was already speaking of a "migratory chaos" at the border between Morocco and Ceuta, with the State's security forces and bodies "saturated" in the face of the arrival of thousands of people. But the trickle of migrant arrivals in Ceuta from the Alawite country, mostly swimming, had been a constant throughout the month of July, far exceeding the figures from the previous year.

]]>

Aisha stays on the sidelines, sitting on a stone between the rubble and the new houses that are under construction. In front of her, her village community is celebrating an Amazigh wedding. Even though it is a festive day, her thoughts are anchored to a pain too deep to let go. She holds it between her hands, tightly interlaced over her skirt, before lifting her head and telling me: “Life goes on, but my heart still hurts.” The earthquake took the older of her two children, who died while sleeping under the rubble of the house, of which now only the memory remains. Since the earthquake, three years ago now, she has lived in a tent in a camp without basic services. Water arrives intermittently, and electricity depends on a few solar panels that are often covered by the dust and debris stirred up by the strong winds of the high mountains.

]]>

Pedro Sánchez stood alone this week in Congress defending Morocco, although for the first time he introduced nuances into his speech. Previously, the Moncloa's position was argumentatively unsustainable, since if Morocco is characterized by anything, it is by having its territory under control (can one really argue that they did not notice that thousands of people were heading to the border?). Furthermore, it is not the first time that Morocco has used migrants to challenge Spain (let us remember, recently, Ceuta in 2021).

]]>

The migration crisis in Ceuta represents yet another serious complication for a weary government, now without permanent allies, but led by a president determined to continue and finish the legislative term. The hypothesis of a miracle that would allow the socialists to rebuild alliances and projects for a new stage in power next year seems increasingly implausible. Thursday's debate in Congress highlighted the solitude of Pedro Sánchez, criticized by all the parliamentary forces. Yet once again he managed to remain standing, without falling exhausted onto the canvas. Feijóo tries to strike the socialist leader with ever more force and knock him down for good. There is no longer any kind of respect or consideration between the two. And despite this, the feeling always remains in the air that the president of the PP will have to keep waiting, because his blows—which would be quite forceful against other opponents—do not have much effect on Sánchez, who shows no signs of looking for any other way out than to stake everything on one card whenever he decides to call the next general elections.

]]>

At the border that a month ago leaked from all sides with the massive entry of more than 80,000 people, normality now reigns, beyond the presence of some of the immigrants who crossed it illegally, who wait to see if someone gives them food or money. The traffic at this point between Ceuta and Morocco –the El Tarajal crossing– is constant; thousands of people cross it every day, whether to go to work, visit relatives, or go sightseeing.

]]>

This summer I did not return “home”, as Moroccan emigrants residing in Europe say, because I understood long ago that my little Morocco (that of my grandparents, the aunts who kissed me so hard it hurt, the flood of cousins who gathered at the family home every summer) is inside the great Morocco, the authoritarian dictatorship that leads the destiny of the Maghrebis since the country obtained independence. Independence from European colonizers, but not from another foreign domination –insofar as it is alien to the general interests of the population– like that of the Alaouite regime, with Hassan II and now Mohamed VI (and God save us from the heir, Hassan III).

]]>

The relationship with Morocco has always been strategic for any Spanish government and, despite occasional incidents such as the dispute over the islet of Perejil in 2002, governments of different political stripes have tried to maintain good neighborly relations. In recent years, however, a series of phenomena have taken place that have increased Morocco's power and influence over Spain and also over the EU. Its role as a guardian of the southern European border, and the exponential increase in migratory flows, gives it great bargaining (and extortion) power, and its recent rapprochement with the United States and Israel has made it an increasingly fearsome actor. This is the context of the Ceuta migration crisis and also what explains what happened this Thursday in the Congress of Deputies, where Pedro Sánchez has been left alone defending that Rabat had no role in the massive entry of immigrants.

]]>

Let's talk about Ceuta, a European border, a sensitive point for the entire European Union. And here comes the first paradox: from the beginning, a cornered Pedro Sánchez has insisted on interpreting the massive crossing of July 30th as a European crisis. His European allies have done precisely the opposite: reiterating that, above all, it is an internal affair, a Spanish crisis.

]]>