Spain’s conservative People’s Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo on Friday demanded that the navy be sent to Ceuta following unconfirmed reports of a Moroccan patrol boat in the exclave’s waters Thursday. Summon the Moroccan ambassador. Recall our ambassador in Rabat for consultations.
Demand explanations from the highest levels of the Moroccan authorities,” Feijóo wrote on X Friday, adding that “Spain is not for sale. Spain defends itself.” The opposition leader is currently bidding to replace Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez after the embattled socialist announced snap elections for Nov. 29. Feijóo’s calls for a “firm response” are the latest in a wave of criticism of Sánchez’s government after more than 70,000 migrants arrived in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta on the Moroccan border in late July.
Migration ministers across the European Union have in recent months repeatedly demanded tough new EU migration policies. His comments also come after unconfirmed reports that a Moroccan patrol boat remained in Spanish waters off the coast of Ceuta for hours Thursday, which the Spanish Civil Guard has denied. Moroccan warships also allegedly entered Spanish waters in July, though a European Commission spokesperson told Spanish press agency EFE Wednesday that it was “up to the Spanish and Moroccan authorities to clarify the facts.” Feijóo spent Thursday morning at a summit of the center-right European People’s Party — of which the PP is a member — in Brussels, during which the EPP lashed out at the Spanish government over the Ceuta crisis in its closing statement, according to POLITICO’s Madrid Playbook.
Conservatives have said they will implement measures to curb immigration if the government swings to the right after the snap election. Tensions over Ceuta and Melilla — which Morocco considers occupied territories — are becoming increasingly strained: A POLITICO poll earlier this week revealed that 58% of respondents believe an armed conflict between Madrid and Rabat is “likely” within the next decade. In a landmark visit to the exclaves also this week, King Felipe VI said that Ceuta and Melilla were “an inalienable part of the political and national reality that is Spain.
The sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country are not negotiable.” The last time a Spanish head of state visited the territories was in 2007, when former king Juan Carlos I traveled to Ceuta and Melilla amid a diplomatic spat with Morocco.
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