Spanish economist Santiago Niño Becerra believes that Spain’s departure from Ceuta and Melilla is no longer a question of possibility, but of timing. According to him, the new geopolitical balance now favors Morocco.
As Ceuta and Melilla once again become the focus of tensions between Rabat and Madrid, an old Moroccan Official Bulletin states the Kingdom’s position without beating around the bush: Moroccan territories, Spanish occupation and the desire to recover them.
The highest-ranking operational official in the Spanish armed forces visited Melilla, then Ceuta. Officially there to thank the military personnel, Teodoro López Calderón appeared in both cities amid a period of tensions between Madrid and Rabat.
Spain has just modified the exceptional measures put in place in Ceuta following the mass crossings from Morocco. A new decree maintains the possibility of mobilizing the army’s surveillance, transport and communications resources, but changes several facilities that may be used.
Orange Maroc will remove an advertisement installed on a Spanish motorway. The map of the Kingdom shown on the billboard included the Sahara and did not mark the borders of Ceuta and Melilla, sparking two separate controversies in Spain.
Ahmed Toufiq mentioned Ceuta before Mohammed VI before recalling the use of a Sufi work in the mobilization of Moroccans to “liberate the occupied territories.” Amid heightened tensions with Spain, this sequence has drawn attention, without constituting an official claim.
The president of UD Las Palmas, Miguel Ángel Ramírez, launched a verbal attack against Morocco before a match in Ceuta. The club executive asserted the Canaries’ Spanish identity and promised to mobilize his club if it were challenged.
Spain is toughening its response to Moroccan claims over Ceuta and Melilla. Following new statements by Abdellatif Ouahbi, Madrid says it has directly conveyed to Morocco, through diplomatic channels, its “categorical rejection” of any challenge to its sovereignty over the two cities.
Apple Maps displays several territories administered by Spain and claimed by Morocco as being located in Morocco. This is a particularly sensitive depiction as sovereignty over Spain’s North African enclaves continues to divide Rabat and Madrid.
An opinion piece published in Spain imagines an agreement on co-sovereignty with Morocco , followed ten years later by the complete transfer of Ceuta and Melilla to the Kingdom. A scenario that remains fictional, but which brings this possibility into the Spanish debate.
The American Congress renews its financial and military support to Morocco . Beyond these funds, Washington now openly encourages diplomatic negotiations between Rabat and Madrid concerning the future status of the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.
Israel’s ambassador to Spain denied rumors of diplomatic support for Moroccan ambitions over Ceuta and Melilla. The diplomat also took the opportunity to criticize the Spanish executive’s position concerning the war in the Middle East.