Pedro Sánchez "arrives prepared" in Brussels to face the migration rebukes from his partners, including those from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, according to diplomatic sources. This week's leaders' summit will be the first time the Spanish Prime Minister has met with the Italian Prime Minister since the Ceuta crisis this summer. At the time, the leader's response to the massive influx of immigrants opened the floodgates for a confrontation over migration. Italy suspended free movement with Spanish travelers –a measure replicated by the Spanish government– and initiated a spiral of confrontation that has served to vindicate its model of external border control.

A year ago, the image illustrating this piece would have been impossible. It is from June 25, when half the world was watching the football World Cup, which was being held, in part, in Mexico. The country's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, and Felipe VI appear in it, and it was taken during the Spanish monarch's visit to the National Palace of the Latin American country, in a meeting that was "very cordial," according to the Mexican leader. It represented the culmination of a process of rapprochement between the Spanish crown and Mexico, and left behind years of tensions over the Spanish colonial past after some advances that remain far from the demands that motivated the clash.

The 2015 refugee reception crisis represented a turning point for Europe. From then on comes the fear of a new migration crisis at its borders. The perception of threat is such that the overreaction is immediate, regardless of how many there are (with the Aquarius there were 630, 106 when the ship arrived in Valencia) and whether they have actually arrived (let us remember that in Ceuta they were still on the African continent).

Fadi Elhusseini (1975, Gaza Strip) made his debut this Thursday as the brand-new ambassador of Palestine to Spain, in Madrid, in what was his first public act since presenting his credentials to Felipe VI. The playing field was friendly. First, because he was accompanied by the Minister of Children and Youth, Sira Rego (United Left), who has been and is one of the most forceful voices in the Spanish government against the offensive in Gaza, as was evidenced again this Thursday: "The position of Spanish society [on Palestine] is clear [...]. [Benjamin Netanyahu] is a war criminal," the minister stated.

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.

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.

The Minister of Justice of Morocco, Abdellatif Ouahbi, on Friday claimed Morocco's "historical and geographical right" over Ceuta and Melilla. In an interview with the Moroccan public channel 2M, he called for dialogue with Spain to address their future and achieve their "return to the homeland." The interview took place in the context of the entry into force on Thursday of a new law on the legal profession in Morocco, but the most striking statement was about relations between Morocco and Spain. Ouahbi assured that the issue of Ceuta and Melilla must remain a matter of dialogue between the two countries.

[This article was first published in July 2022. We are republishing it in light of the humanitarian crisis in Ceuta]The two lions guarding the main entrance of the Congress of Deputies were made with the melted cannons of the Moroccans defeated at the battle of Wad Ras. This confrontation, along with the battles of Tetuan and Los Castillejos, led to Spain's victory in the first declared war against the Rif tribes from 1859 to 1860. The Sultanate of Morocco, the Riffian tribes, and, later, the Alaouite kingdom have been a constant source of conflict for the Spanish State for more than a century and a half. All in all, the armed contingents from this area of the Maghreb have constituted, by far, the foreign forces that have fought for the longest time against the Spanish army since the Peninsular War.

Giorgia Meloni and Mette Frederiksen, two European prime ministers seemingly at political antipodes, are showcasing their common front against "uncontrolled immigration" in the European Union in a joint message released this Monday on social media, in which they call for a tougher stance and advocate for the creation of repatriation centers in third countries. The two leaders emphasize that they have led a strict migratory policy, both in their countries and across Europe, with the argument that "no one can deny that illegal immigration has a negative impact" on European societies: "Increased crime rates, increased pressure on public services, and erosion of public trust."

Tension remains high between Italy and Spain over the Ceuta migratory crisis. The Italian government has denounced Spain's decision to impose border controls at ports and airports on passengers arriving from Italy as "totally unacceptable" and "incomprehensible." This was stated this Sunday in an interview with the newspaper La Stampa by the Italian Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani. The former President of the Eurochamber criticized Pedro Sánchez for making the decision "solely as retaliation, without reason, harming tourism".

The diplomatic relationship between the Spanish State and Morocco has been marked by a series of ups and downs. That is to say, by moments of tension that have led to a clash between the two countries, even for months. It is a Pandora's box that the serious migratory crisis in Ceuta has once again brought to the table and that, although the Spanish government does not want to open – at Moncloa they maintain that it is a "reliable partner" –; other voices are fully entering it. Not going any further, Sumar. The minority partner of the coalition government has asked the United Nations to "examine" Morocco's responsibility in the migratory crisis and some of its members have openly pointed to a geopolitical dimension: "This is not a migratory crisis, but political decisions," stated the deputy in Congress, Tesh Sidi.

On Thursday afternoon, after understanding that the massive entry of young Moroccans into Ceuta was, above all, a political move, from ARA we contacted several experts in the region to try to decipher the why now. The response from all of them was that it was too early to have clear clues. I especially liked the message that one of them conveyed to me: "More than me, the questions should be asked to Morocco".

The magnitude of the fires these days in the Valencian Community, in Spain and in France is making headlines in newspapers worldwide, accompanied by reflections of the type of whether it is reasonable to go on vacation in July in Western Europe, with these heat waves that turn a simple walk between the Sagrada Família and Casa Batlló into something akin to a painful trek across the asphalt desert.The phenomenon is not just European, of course. Hours before the World Cup final, smoke from fires in Canada was noticeable in New York City, just as they are now breathing in Madrid the smoke from fires in Castilla. The planet speaks and says that if we continue with the business as usual there will be no individual salvation.If you go to appliance stores or large retailers, they will explain that for weeks, apart from air conditioning units, they have been selling nothing but ceiling fans that, due to their price and consumption, have become the star element of the kit for summer survival for poorly ventilated rooms and generally torrid nights.The contrast between the damage that climate change is already doing to us and the slowness of the response is as scandalous as the economic interests strongly infiltrated in politics that aspire to plunder the planet until they take the last euro. That summer chronicles about the anxieties of thousands of people evacuated from their homes due to fires are now commonplace, and that devastating fires have become a kind of reverse annual lottery, is the end of an era, in which even clichés are up for discussion. Let's see how we maintain that in summer everything is alive and well.

FIFA will open an investigation against Argentina for the incidents that occurred after the final whistle, as reported by Sky Sports. The highest football body will investigate the violent conduct of several Argentine players – and some members of Lionel Scaloni's coaching staff.

27,000 people, according to police sources, gathered on the marine platform of Barcelona's Fòrum to experience the World Cup final together. The majority were fans of the Spanish national team, but there was also a large representation of Argentinians. Like Mariella and Laura, two Argentinians who have been living in Catalonia for a long time. "The sea inspires us. We've come here with a couple of guts. Until the end with the national team," they confided.

Sixteen years later, Spain has once again been proclaimed world champion. A goal from Ferran Torres in the second half of extra time was enough for the Spanish team to defeat Leo Messi's Argentina, who were left with one less player after Enzo Fernández's expulsion. The match was highly anticipated: Messi versus Lamine Yamal, and two teams with completely opposite styles. The political aspect of the confrontation is also significant. The final was played in the United States of America, and Donald Trump was present at the MetLife Stadium. Spain and the United States currently have a tense relationship, while Javier Milei's Argentina is much closer to the American magnate.

When this Sunday the ball starts rolling in the World Cup final at the MetLife stadium on the outskirts of New York, the city that never sleeps, all eyes will be on two players trained in Barcelona, Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal. The leaders of Argentina and Spain, the two finalist teams. It will be special for a group of people who, searching through old photos on their mobile phones, find some that show these two players when they were much younger: the coaches from La Masia who, in some way, helped them on both their paths to MetLife stadium.

In the stands of the Dallas stadium, Miquel Olmo continued to bite his lip and wring his hands as if he were praying. Dani Olmo's father suffers greatly every time he sees his son playing an important match live. All the hours they spent together, the games, the advice, and when his son was young and used to go to the fields where he coached, flash through his mind. In Terrassa, Figueres, Sabadell, or Girona. Miquel sat on the benches of some of the most important Catalan football clubs. He left a good human impression wherever he went. Now he no longer coaches and follows Dani, always attentive to everyone. You see him traveling with Barça in the Champions League and now, at the World Cup, watching his son's exhibition against France live.

Sixteen years later, Spain will play the final of a World Cup again. The 2-0 victory against France unleashed euphoria among Spanish fans and also among some of the country's best-known faces. From the royal family to political leaders, including the 2010 world champions, who watched the semi-final in Dallas, celebrations were not long in coming.

The invitation from the French embassy to the national celebration of July 14 in Madrid already included watching the World Cup semi-final in the program. What they didn't know a month ago when they sent it was that the match would be between France and Spain. And even less so that it would be the same week that a former Spanish government president – Mariano Rajoy i Brey – would make a racist comment about the French players. This has undoubtedly been one of the most discussed topics this Tuesday at the small palace on Calle Serrano 124 in Madrid, where the ambassador, Kareen Rispal, resides, and where the commemoration of the storming of the Bastille has been celebrated with hundreds of guests in the Spanish capital.