Ceuta: after the crisis with Morocco, Sánchez calls in the army, intelligence services and his ministers

The meeting will be held on Tuesday, 25 August, before the Council of Ministers. According to Cadena SER, Pedro Sánchez will personally chair this extraordinary National Security Council meeting, convened nearly a month after the mass entries of 30 and 31 July.

Around the table will be, notably, the Spanish ministers of the Interior, Defence and Foreign Affairs. Also present will be the director of the National Intelligence Centre (CNI), the Chief of the Defence Staff (JEMAD) and the director of the National Security Department. The president of Ceuta, Juan Vivas, will participate remotely.

The National Security Council is the main body responsible for assisting the Spanish head of government on national security matters. It usually meets every two months, but Madrid has this time decided to convene an extraordinary session specifically devoted to Ceuta.

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This decision comes after several weeks of the Spanish deployment being ramped up. More than 150 soldiers from the Canary Islands Command were recently transferred to Ceuta in order to reinforce the forces already present in the city.

Madrid raises Ceuta to the highest security level

The meeting is intended to allow the government to assess the situation in the enclave and, according to Cadena SER, the risk it poses to national security. Sánchez had already organised two coordination meetings by videoconference, on 7 and 17 August, with several ministers.

Tuesday’s meeting is on another level: it will directly bring together the political officials responsible for Defence, the Interior and diplomacy with Spain’s highest-ranking intelligence and armed forces officials.

Madrid has simultaneously strengthened its surveillance capabilities. The Spanish General Staff has notably refused to clarify whether its MQ-9 Predator B drones are participating in the deployment around Ceuta, while other military reinforcements have been publicly confirmed.

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The Ceuta crisis therefore now goes beyond the sole management of migrant arrivals. After the recall of soldiers, the deployment of additional troops and the strengthening of surveillance capabilities, Pedro Sánchez is placing the issue before the Spanish body responsible for the most sensitive national security matters on Tuesday.