The residents of Melilla denounced on Sunday the priority given at the border to Moroccans residing abroad (MREs) participating in the Marhaba 2023 Operation.
Two former senior Spanish army officers, Admiral Juan Rodríguez Garat and Lieutenant General Francisco Gan Pampols, consider a Moroccan military attack on Ceuta and Melilla unlikely.
The Spanish navy has just deployed the amphibious assault ship Galicia (L-51) in the waters of Melilla, near Morocco. In recent months, Spain has strengthened its presence in the waters under its sovereignty (Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla).
Long lines of cars were recorded at the Melilla border with Morocco during the first weekend of the Marhaba Operation 2023 which started on June 15.
The think tank Europa Ciudadana warns against the position of certain Spanish officials in favor of Morocco on the Spanish sovereignty of Ceuta and Melilla.
The Observatory of Ceuta and Melilla has sent a letter to the director of Google Spain to ask to reconsider the delineation of the borders of the two autonomous cities with Morocco, drawn in dotted lines as if these territories were disputed.
The far-right party Vox does not want Melilla to participate in Operation Marhaba 2023, considering that it does not benefit the autonomous city at all and even proposes a tax for Moroccans living abroad (MREs).
While Spain wants the rapid reopening of commercial customs in Melilla and the opening of a new customs office in Ceuta, Morocco, for its part, uses subterfuges to extend the deadlines and delay, or even prevent, the opening of these customs posts.
Morocco and Spain normalized their diplomatic relations in April 2022 after Spain’s change of position on the Sahara. The two countries signed a joint declaration in Rabat containing the "new roadmap" of their relations. After a year of relative peace, new tensions are emerging, due to Morocco’s claims on Sebta and Melilla.
Google Maps doubts the Spanish nature of Ceuta and Melilla . On the satellite images of the global giant, the border between Spain and Morocco is drawn in dotted lines, as if the two countries were disputing the sovereignty of the two autonomous cities.
Spanish MEPs Maite Pagaza and Jordi Cañas (again!) have called on the European Union to react to Morocco’s statements on the Spanish sovereignty of Ceuta and Melilla . They call on the EU to revise the European partnership in the face of Morocco’s hostile acts.
The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent a diplomatic note to the Rabat embassy in Madrid to reproach Morocco for stating in a letter to the European Commission that Sebta and Melilla are "Moroccan" cities.