Orange Maroc will remove an advertisement installed on a Spanish motorway. The map of the Kingdom shown on the billboard included the Sahara and did not mark the borders of Ceuta and Melilla, sparking two separate controversies in Spain.
Thousands of migrants were waiting to receive their meal on a beach in Ceuta when clashes broke out. Spanish police charged the crowd and used tear gas, causing hundreds of people to flee toward a road and a breakwater.
Siraj is only three years old. After reaching Ceuta by swimming with his parents and brother, this young Moroccan has lived for 26 days under a tent, without toilets, amid the abandoned warehouses of the El Tarajal industrial zone.
As Spanish media discuss energy levers that could be used against Morocco following the Ceuta crisis, a power cut plunged the Congress Defence Committee into darkness as it met to hear Minister Margarita Robles.
Morocco is gradually advancing its interests vis-à-vis Spain by combining immigration, the economy, energy and territorial claims, without crossing the threshold of open conflict. This is the analysis of Samuel Morales, a Spanish lieutenant colonel specializing in so-called “grey zone” strategies.
In Madrid, the government describes Morocco as a “reliable and loyal” neighbour. In the Canary Islands, a regional official says exactly the opposite and accuses Rabat of playing with “marked cards”. Two opposing Spanish messages, delivered on the same day.
Pedro Sánchez is convening an extraordinary meeting of the National Security Council on Tuesday devoted to Ceuta. The Defence, Interior and Foreign Affairs ministries, intelligence services and the chief of the armed forces will meet after the migration crisis originating in Morocco at the end of July.
At a time when tensions over Ceuta are weakening bilateral relations, energy figures reveal a less visible dependence: in 2025, Spain supplied the equivalent of 8 % of Morocco’s electricity demand, as well as nearly a quarter of its imports of petroleum products.
Spain spent nearly 58 million euros purchasing Moroccan olive oil in the first half of 2026, compared with just 641,000 euros a year earlier. A spectacular surge in a country that nevertheless comfortably dominates global production.
In the province of Barcelona, Moroccans are now the largest nationality among foreign homebuyers in Vilafranca del Penedès. They have claimed this position in a city where prices have risen by nearly 31% in one year.
The president of UD Las Palmas, Miguel Ángel Ramírez, launched a verbal attack against Morocco before a match in Ceuta. The club executive asserted the Canaries’ Spanish identity and promised to mobilize his club if it were challenged.
Several studies published within Spain’s Ministry of Defence environment analyse migration flows as a possible instrument of pressure in relations between states. Three works devoted to Morocco, hybrid threats and Spanish strategy place migration crises at the heart of Madrid’s security considerations.