About 200 people gathered by the Popular Party (PP) and Vox have concentrated this Wednesday in front of the European Parliament headquarters in Brussels in solidarity with the people of Ceuta after the massive arrival of migrants at the end of July and against the government of Pedro Sánchez, whom they demand to resign for the management of the situation. “Sánchez has lied to the people of Ceuta, Spaniards, and Europeans. He knew an invasion was coming and did not defend the territorial integrity and Spanish sovereignty of Ceuta. They must resign and call elections now,” shouted the secretary general of the European People’s Party, Dolors Montserrat, in a statement to the media.
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The Spanish parties were accompanied by MEPs and parliamentary assistants, also from other countries, such as members of the German far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) or Brothers of Italy, Giorgia Meloni’s party. In the front row was also the leader of the European People’s Party, EPP, Manfred Weber. They all posed for the cameras with flags of Spain, Ceuta, and the EU or banners against Sánchez or his Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, accusing him of being a “traitor.” At the end, they applauded and chanted “Ceuta is Spain” or “Ceuta is not for sale,” coinciding with Ceuta Day and other protests in the Spanish State.
Grande-Marlaska has demanded explanations from the director of the National Police, Francisco Pardo, about the content of a report that the National Immigration and Borders Center (CENIF) would have sent to the National Court attributing the massive assault on the Ceuta border to Morocco, to which he responded that “there is no police report” attributing to Morocco the planning or execution of what happened. However, Montserrat believes that Sánchez “has lied to all Spaniards” and has “abdicated the primary responsibility that any prime minister of a member state in Europe has, which is to defend the territorial integrity of their country.”
The same has been considered by the head of the Vox delegation to the European Parliament, Jorge Buxadé, who went further and announced that he has sent a letter to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, and to the European Commissioner for the Interior, Magnus Brunner, to demand that, like Vox, they interpret the massive migratory crossing as a hybrid act of war by Morocco and that all cooperation agreements between the European Union and Morocco and any payments under these agreements, even if already committed, be suspended, as well as the issuance of visas and residence or work permits to nationals of Moroccan origin.
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Buxadé compares Rabat’s role to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and believes the Commission should urge the Council of the European Union to impose sanctions on Morocco, “because if we have done so legitimately with Russia, which attacked Ukraine, which is not the European Union, we must do so against someone who has attacked a member state of the Union.” In his view, Spain is in “its most difficult, harsh, and serious moment since the attempted coup in Catalonia in October 2017.”
Also in Brussels was the President of the Andalusian Government, Juanma Moreno, who has asked European institutions and the Government to put “all means” to restore normality in Ceuta, since the entry of thousands of people from Morocco into the Spanish autonomous city meant the violation of a European Union border. “When you come from Morocco and cross the Tarajal border, the first thing you encounter is a European border sign,” he said, therefore calling for “cohesion, with unity and also with determination.”
The Ceuta crisis will return to the European Parliament in the plenary session to be held in two weeks, when the response to the crisis will be debated and a resolution will also be voted on.
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