Alberto Núñez Feijóo directly challenged Pedro Sánchez’s relations with Morocco before the Spanish Parliament. “If Morocco speaks, you’re out,” the opposition leader told the prime minister, whom he accuses of no longer being a “free” president.
Some 70,000 Sahrawis could obtain Spanish nationality through a law that is due to be submitted to Congress on Thursday. The PSOE has decided to support it, but some Socialists acknowledge fearing the consequences for relations with Morocco.
Members of Ultras Sur burned a portrait of King Mohammed VI, as well as a Moroccan flag and a depiction of Pedro Sánchez, on Tuesday evening near the Santiago Bernabéu, before the Real Madrid–Inter Milan match.
A new gate installed by Morocco at Tarajal has sparked a battle of competing accounts in Spain. Police sources insist that it is located on Spanish territory, while Pedro Sánchez’s government claims exactly the opposite.
Nasser Bourita reportedly assured his Spanish counterpart that the recent statements by Moroccan ministers regarding Ceuta and Melilla do not reflect Morocco’s official position. José Manuel Albares nevertheless says he is not satisfied with this explanation.
The Spanish judiciary has taken a new step in the Ceuta crisis. Judge María Tardón has formally decided to open a criminal investigation into the mass crossings at the end of July, citing a serious threat to Spain’s territorial integrity and a possible scenario of “hybrid warfare.”
Aragon is scrapping the Arabic Language and Moroccan Culture Programme in the ten institutions that still offered it, starting this school year. The measure, announced Sunday by regional vice-president Alejandro Nolasco, takes effect immediately.
A Guardia Civil general allegedly ordered all references to Morocco removed from a report intended for the judge investigating the mass entries into Ceuta. Internal sources claim that the document initially contained evidence implicating Moroccan officers.
The Ceuta crisis has triggered a new institutional conflict in Spain. The Senate is preparing to bring a case before the Constitutional Court against three ministers in Pedro Sánchez’s government, accused by the PP of refusing to appear before the upper chamber to explain themselves.
Madrid is hardening its discourse toward Rabat once again. Spain’s Foreign Ministry now believes that the repeated claims by Moroccan ministers regarding Sebta and Melilla “degrade” bilateral relations and insists that Spanish sovereignty will never be discussed with Morocco.
Spanish economist Santiago Niño Becerra believes that Spain’s departure from Ceuta and Melilla is no longer a question of possibility, but of timing. According to him, the new geopolitical balance now favors Morocco.
Ceuta’s migration crisis has already caused 33 million euros in private-sector losses and 80 million euros in public spending. The bill has thus reached 113 million euros and is expected to rise further by December.