Former Spanish Minister Faces Backlash Over Ceuta and Melilla Sovereignty Comments

The spokespersons of the PP, PSOE, MDyC and Ceuta Ya! have decided to convene this session, considering that Trujillo’s remarks show "serious disloyalty towards Spain, a total ignorance of history and the law, contempt and disrespect for the citizens of Ceuta and Melilla who are and feel Spanish".

The Ceuta Assembly added that "the sovereignty of the two cities is indisputable and guaranteed by the constitutional order and the State", and that "the defense of the Spanish territorial integrity must be a matter for all, regardless of partisan differences". The spokesperson for the socialist parliamentary group in Congress, Patxi López, affirmed that the central government does not "at all" share Trujillo’s opinion on Ceuta and Melilla and "does not doubt the Spanishness" of the autonomous cities.

The former Minister of Housing under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, participating in an international congress in Tétouan, declared that "Ceuta and Melilla are vestiges of the past and hinder the economic and political independence of Morocco and the good relations between the two countries".