Several cross-border workers are eagerly awaiting the reopening of the borders with Ceuta and Melilla to resume their activities. For now, no official date has been announced, although rumors indicate a likely reopening before the end of the year.
The director of the Ceuta and Melilla Observatory, Carlos Echeverría, believes that relations between Spain and Morocco have always been punctuated by crises, and that it would be useless to force a resumption.
Spain would not withstand an armed attack by Morocco on Ceuta and Melilla. Several Spanish as well as American military experts had reached this conclusion and recommended measures to strengthen security in the two enclaves.
In its report entitled "Morocco’s Claims on Ceuta and Melilla from the Perspective of the Grey Zone", the Institute of Security and Culture, through the Ceuta and Melilla Observatory, has described the strategy implemented by Morocco to establish its sovereignty over the autonomous city without resorting to armed force.
Senator Carles Mulet (Compromís) has addressed a series of written questions to the government of Pedro Sánchez, following the publication of the report indicating that the kingdom is developing a "hybrid strategy" to definitively establish its sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla.
The Popular Party (PP) of Melilla has assured that Morocco’s continued closure of its land and sea borders with Ceuta and Melilla, beyond its health (fight against Covid-19) argument made about two years ago, hides "a diplomatic and political problem" between Spain and the kingdom.
Morocco is preparing to launch the commercial zone located in Tetouan, near Ceuta, and developed by Tanger Med Zones, a subsidiary of the Tanger Med group, by April 2022.
The Spanish intelligence service warns against the rapprochement between Morocco and Israel. They have recently signed an agreement for the construction of a military base near the cities of Ceuta and Melilla.
Former Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Garcia Margallo said that "relations with Morocco must be repaired quickly to avoid damage".
Reacting after the publication, on Monday, of the report of the Observatory of Ceuta and Melilla on "Morocco’s claims" on the two enclaves, the president of the government of Melilla, Eduardo de Castro, said that the Spanishness of Melilla "is not negotiable".
The Chief of the Defense Staff (JEMAD), Admiral Teodoro López Calderón, believes that Morocco is not "a threat" to Ceuta and Melilla , even though it has been pursuing a policy of blockade against the two enclaves for years.
Most of the measures taken by Morocco in recent years against Spain are actually aimed at Ceuta and Melilla. According to some Spanish experts, the kingdom would be deploying a hybrid strategy to definitively establish its sovereignty over the two enclaves.