Ceuta and Melilla will become Moroccan again "whether they like it or not

Although he specified that his position did not constitute a call for military confrontation, Abdelilah Benkirane described the maintenance of these enclaves outside Moroccan territory as "unacceptable". According to him, Moroccans have not forgotten these cities and must continue to work for their restitution, an outcome he considers inevitable, "whether they like it or not".

These statements, reported by the Spanish press, are received there as a "dangerous" provocation that undermines the climate of mutual respect advocated by Madrid and Rabat. For Spanish observers, the recurrence of this nationalist discourse, carried by a figure who has held the highest positions in the state, contradicts the policy of good neighborliness and maintains a diplomatic ambiguity considered worrying on the other side of the Mediterranean.