Former Spanish Minister Calls for Ceuta and Melilla to Join Morocco

In an interview with the Moroccan newspaper Al Alam, Trujillo again insisted on the need for Spain to "review its position on Ceuta, Melilla and the Chafarinas Islands" and consider their "annexation to Morocco." The former Minister of Housing recalled that Morocco has claimed these lands on many occasions, at the level of all national and international bodies.

"If Spain has changed its traditional position on the Sahara, why can’t it change its position on Ceuta and Melilla and the islands and rocks?", wondered Trujillo, who first called for the annexation of Ceuta and Melilla to Morocco last September, during her participation in an international conference in Tetouan, Morocco. The two Spanish cities are "vestiges of the past that hinder the economic and political independence of Morocco and the good relations between the two countries," she said.

A few days later, Trujillo said that in Spain "there is no freedom of expression when one departs from official thinking" and that "freedom of expression and information is more protected in Morocco than in Spain," adding that her country should "take example" on the kingdom to no longer be "so misinformed and manipulated".

Regarding the Sahara, the former minister believes that the issue of independence of this territory has no reason to exist, even describing it as "non-existent". "There is neither a people nor a nation in the desert, nor an electorate in the Tindouf camps," she said. A few days before the holding of the high-level meeting between Spain and Morocco, scheduled for February 1 and 2, Trujillo wished for more "political will" in order to improve and consolidate bilateral relations.