Spanish and Moroccan delegations will hold a meeting on Tuesday in Madrid to finalize the process of reopening the borders and define the new conditions for the movement of people and goods in Ceuta and Melilla.
The National Intelligence Center (CNI) informed the Spanish government that the irregular entry of thousands of migrants in Ceuta in May 2021 was part of Morocco’s strategy to pressure Spain to change its position on the Sahara.
Nabil Lakhdar, Director General of Customs of Morocco, affirms that it will be possible to establish a customs infrastructure with Ceuta and Melilla. Beforehand, certain necessary modifications will have to be made.
The Director General of Moroccan Customs, Nabil Lakhdar, said that "there will be no commercial customs" in Ceuta, adding that "the border crossings of Ceuta and Melilla are only small corridors for customs controls".
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska assured on Thursday from Brussels that Ceuta and Melilla already have "all the support" of the government, without specifying whether the latter is studying the possibility of integrating the two autonomous cities into the Schengen area.
The Socialist MEP, Lopez Aguilar, believes that the European Parliament would not object to supporting the removal of the Schengen visa exemption granted to Moroccans from Tetouan or the accession of Ceuta to the customs union.
The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, reassured deputies in Congress that the territorial integrity of Spain and Ceuta and Melilla is "fully guaranteed" by the government.
The presidents of Ceuta and Melilla, Juan Jesús Vivas and Eduardo de Castro, called on Wednesday for greater integration of their two cities into the European Union (EU) to counter Morocco’s "hybrid strategies".
The Vox party is asking the government of Pedro Sanchez to demand that Morocco explicitly recognize Spanish sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla.
The new directives put in place following the reopening of the border posts of the two Spanish enclaves, Ceuta and Melilla, are not to the liking of merchants, especially those specialized in smuggling.
Phase 2 of the reopening of the border with Morocco was supposed to start this Tuesday with the passage of cross-border workers blocked in Ceuta since March 2020. But strangely, no movement was observed.
Facial recognition at the borders of Ceuta and Melilla, envisaged by the Spanish authorities, is strongly contested by human rights organizations, who denounce a violation of the fundamental rights of citizens.