In response to the recent statement by the President of the Chamber of Advisors (Senate) that Morocco "will end up claiming Ceuta and Melilla", Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles reiterated on Monday that the two autonomous cities are "Spanish".
After several years of closed borders with Morocco, and given the uncertainty about the reopening of customs, the cities of Ceuta and Melilla want to boost their economies by creating the conditions to attract betting companies.
The President of the House of Advisors and member of the executive bureau of Istiqlal, Enaam Mayara, declared on Friday that Morocco will eventually "recover the two occupied cities of Ceuta and Melilla", calling on Moroccans residing in Spain to form a "lobby" to help defend the homeland.
Morocco will eventually recover Ceuta, Melilla, the Chafarinas Islands and the Canary Islands, said a Moroccan journalist, even going so far as to claim that the transfer of the two autonomous cities has already been agreed between the two countries.
The Spanish Navy ship Rayo P-42 made a stopover this weekend at the port of Melilla for an open house day. The Spanish Navy had already deployed three frigates (Reina Sofía (F-84), Navarra (F-85) and Canarias (F-86)) and the patrol boat Atalaya in these waters near Morocco.
A member of the Moroccan security forces and a Spanish agent stationed at the Melilla border have been arrested by the Civil Guard for allowing migrants to cross the border in exchange for 7,000 euros per person.
A Melilla resident recently denounced a discriminatory situation at the Moroccan border. According to her statements, Manuela noticed that Melilla residents were no longer required to have their passports stamped at the border, which prompted her to go to Nador accompanied by a friend, Malika, also a Melilla resident.
Melilla still cannot import fish from Morocco, since the reopening of the borders last May. The ineffectiveness of the resumption of commercial customs is to blame.
Vox Ceuta denounces the silence of the government of Pedro Sanchez after the statements of the analyst Fernando Cocho on a possible co-sovereignty of Ceuta and Melilla with Morocco.
Morocco has stopped stamping the passports of travelers from Melilla, holders of a Spanish or Moroccan passport, at the border.
The Spanish government plans to send a military ship to the coasts of Melilla, a border town with Morocco, as part of maritime surveillance.
The unilateral closure of commercial customs by Morocco, the closure of the border due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have dealt a "severe blow" to Melilla’s economy, acknowledged Eduardo de Castro, the president of the autonomous city, calling for the implementation of a strategic plan.