Morocco Warns of Permanent Border Closure if Spain Adds Ceuta to Schengen Area

Morocco intends to close "once and for all" its borders with the autonomous cities if Spain integrates them into the Schengen area, the site Akhbarona reports. King Mohammed VI will take this "sovereign decision" at the appropriate time in the "higher interest" of Morocco, the same source adds. But according to some experts, Morocco could not refuse the visa only to the inhabitants of the autonomous cities, because "it is difficult to imagine that Morocco does not systematically require the same administrative formalities from the inhabitants of Ceuta and Melilla as from other Spaniards".

To read: Spain Considers Frontex Deployment to Secure Ceuta and Melilla Borders

"Morocco’s intention is not to reopen the Tarajal" if Ceuta fully joins the Schengen area and eliminates the current regime that allows the inhabitants of Tetouan to cross the passage without a visa, but not to board to Algeciras, says Abdelmalik Mohamed, the president of the association of residents of Ceuta.

For more than a year, the president of Ceuta, Juan Vivas, has been working on the integration of the city into the Schengen area because he considers it the most effective response to the migration issue. Thus, it will be the Spanish authorities who will authorize the entries into the city.

According to Abdelmalik Mohamed, such a decision would be useless if Morocco closes the Tarajal crossing. "We cannot be content to remain in the Schengen area for life: this is a model that has no future," he says.