The Spanish government has decided to keep the borders of Ceuta and Melilla with Morocco closed for another fifteen days, in order to bring together all the conditions for the orderly and gradual reopening of the Tarajal and Beni Ensar border posts.
The unions of the national police and the local police of Melilla, as well as the professional associations of the Civil Guard, gathered within a collective called "For a secure border for a secure Melilla", have demanded a reinforcement of the staff at the border posts before the announced reopening for early May.
A thousand Moroccans stranded in Melilla since the closure of the border have applied for asylum between January and August 2021, according to the Spanish authorities who say they have received a total of 2,225 asylum applications from migrants of various nationalities during this period.
The Civil Guard will proceed with the installation of a new surveillance system on the land, air and maritime borders of Melilla with Morocco, in order to strengthen control and surveillance and thus prevent attempts by migrants to storm the borders. A budget of 2.5 million euros, all taxes included, has been planned for this project.
The borders of Ceuta and Melilla with Morocco will reopen soon, probably on April 30 or May 2, coinciding with the end of the holy month of Ramadan. In accordance with the agreement concluded with Morocco, the flow of goods will now be fluid and transparent, without smuggling.
Vox continues to demand the entry of Ceuta and Melilla into NATO, as it does not trust Morocco, despite the restoration of diplomatic relations with Spain and the resumption of cooperation between the two countries.
Since the resumption of maritime links between Morocco and Spain, the residents of Ceuta and Melilla have been impatiently awaiting the reopening of land borders. The subject is still the subject of discussions between the two countries.
Spain has initiated administrative procedures to withdraw nationality from 78 Moroccan babies born in Melilla and registered in the civil registry as Spanish.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska expressed on Monday the government’s wish to see the borders of Ceuta and Melilla with Morocco reopen "soon" and in a "progressive" manner, as agreed with the Moroccan authorities.
After receiving the support of the United States, France, Germany and Spain for its autonomy plan for the Sahara, Morocco, once the issue of sovereignty over this territory is obtained, will focus its energy on Sebta and Melilla, which it has been claiming for years.
The Vox parliamentary group believes that the Marhaba Operation, as designed, does not benefit the city of Melilla. The far-right political party had proposed that municipal taxes be imposed on vehicles transiting through the autonomous city to Morocco as part of this Operation.
Morocco is said to have deployed Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones on the borders with Ceuta and Melilla to prevent possible migrant assaults.