Ceuta Businesses Seek EU Support Amid Morocco Trade Tensions

During a videoconference meeting with MEP Jordi Cañas last week, the employers of Ceuta requested his collaboration to find out the potential market that the entrepreneurs of the autonomous city could benefit from if they obtained visas issued by the main European consulates of Tetouan and Tangier. This information is "essential to know what the economic alternative is for our companies in case the Schengen visa exemption is removed, which would affect a potential clientele of around 450,000 inhabitants of the provinces bordering Ceuta."

Cañas recalled that he had tried to find out why Morocco does not allow the entry of goods from Ceuta and Melilla onto its territory, and whether this situation violated the association agreement between the European Union and Morocco or the cooperation and neighborhood agreements. But he was told that "neither Spain nor any other EU Member State has submitted to the Commission any problems related to customs controls or exports of EU goods to Morocco."

The current traveler regime in force, available on the Moroccan customs website, allows a Moroccan resident returning from a trip abroad to bring back gifts or souvenirs with a total value of 2,000 dirhams, without customs declarations or formalities and taxes. MEP Jordi Cañas has asked the European Commission to protect Ceuta and Melilla in their relations with Morocco and Algeria. "Of course, we must maintain good neighborly relations with North Africa, but this requires respecting commitments," Cañas denounced in the plenary session of the European Parliament.

And he added: "But how do we explain to our citizens that we need to strengthen these relations when these countries violate the agreements we have with them?" The MEP had presented a report in early June before the European Parliament to ask for the integration of the two autonomous cities into the European Union.