Ceuta crisis: Spain praises Moroccan cooperation and rules out any negotiations over Ceuta and Melilla

Spain’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, the European Union, and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, praised Morocco’s cooperation in containing the Ceuta crisis, describing it as “essential,” while also stressing that Madrid had formally conveyed to Rabat its rejection of any Moroccan claims over Ceuta and Melilla.

During his appearance before the Foreign Affairs Committee of Spain’s Congress of Deputies, Albares said his ministry had been in contact with Morocco through diplomatic channels from the “very first moment” of the crisis, emphasizing that this “necessary” communication had been, and remains, “continuous.”

The Spanish minister said dialogue with Rabat had been “essential” in facilitating the return of around 90 percent of the 80,000 migrants who entered Ceuta en masse on July 30 and 31, as well as in managing the return of those who remained in the city and helping prevent similar scenarios from recurring, as happened on August 15.

Albares said he had asked the Moroccan side to “strengthen its resources” to halt the flow of arrivals, alongside additional measures to reinforce the border in order to deter and prevent new entry attempts.

In the same context, Spain’s foreign minister rejected any link between the crisis and Spanish-Algerian relations, the parliamentary process for a bill granting Spanish nationality to Sahrawis born during the period of Spanish colonization and to their descendants, or disputes connected to the organization of the 2030 FIFA World Cup.

“None of these matters has anything to do with what happened in Ceuta,” Albares said, adding that Spain has “every right” to make its sovereign decisions, maintain relations with Algeria, vote on the laws it deems appropriate, and grant nationality to those whom parliament considers eligible.

Spanish praise for Morocco’s role in containing migration

For his part, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, while answering questions from members of the Interior Committee in Congress, praised Morocco’s years-long “containment” efforts to prevent irregular migration flows, including during last July.

Marlaska presented figures he said reflected the scale of these efforts, noting that before the July 30 crisis erupted, Morocco had prevented 1,026 attempts to enter Ceuta by swimming and had carried out 2,857 interception operations.

The Spanish interior minister stressed that “the interceptions carried out by Morocco are far greater,” arguing that the jump from those figures to the entry of 72,000 people “cannot be inferred” from the previous data. He noted that the number of people who entered Ceuta on July 30 through the sea wall area was higher than the number who reached it by swimming.

Explaining the causes of the crisis, José Manuel Albares said social media had provided the “spark” that helped trigger the mass entry by “distorting” the content of a Spanish Supreme Court ruling banning the immediate return of people who enter Ceuta by swimming.

He said digital platforms had become a channel for the spread of “lies” globally and at an unprecedented speed, accusing unnamed actors of exploiting them to widen polarization.

Albares explained that a video posted on July 28 showing two young women who had reached Ceuta by swimming went widely viral, surpassing 30 million views in Morocco, at the same time as claims were spreading that the border had been opened.

Two days later, on July 30, the outbreak of the mass entry coincided with “explosive digital activity,” accompanied by the spread of a message claiming that Spain’s Supreme Court would not allow the return of people who reached Ceuta by swimming.

No negotiations over Ceuta and Melilla

Alongside his praise for cooperation with Morocco on security and migration, Albares stressed that such cooperation does not mean opening any discussion on the status of Ceuta and Melilla, affirming that he had been “very clear” with Rabat regarding Spain’s “territorial integrity and sovereignty” over the two cities.

“There have not been, there are not, and there will not be any talks on this matter,” he said, adding that Spain’s Foreign Ministry, and he personally, had rejected “formally and through all possible diplomatic channels” statements he considered contrary to Spain’s territorial integrity.

Responding to questions from parliamentary groups about whether the Foreign Ministry had summoned Morocco’s ambassador in Madrid, Karima Benyaich, Albares hinted that it had, saying that “ambassador summons are rarely announced publicly, but in any case, the ministry’s rejection of any position concerning territorial integrity was formally and publicly conveyed to Morocco through all official diplomatic channels.”

He concluded: “I think the matter is perfectly clear, and I do not believe I need to add anything further.”