NATO Declines to Extend Protection to Spanish Enclaves Ceuta and Melilla

The government of Pedro Sánchez has prepared a roadmap to convince NATO, on the occasion of the Alliance’s summit in Madrid, to protect Ceuta and Melilla. But neither the United States nor the United Kingdom seem favorable to this significant change in the status of the two cities claimed by Morocco. Spain did not deem it useful to defend this proposal which would not be approved without the approval of these two countries.

The Spanish government is then trying a "Plan B" at this summit, negotiating for the fleets of the Alliance that transit through the strait to make technical stopovers and refueling in the ports of the two autonomous cities, particularly in Ceuta. Without success. NATO told him that these ships are already carrying out these operations in "other ports" like that of Rota (Cádiz).

This refusal by NATO will affect the two cities, economically, when we know that between 2010 and 2018, the sixty or so refueling stopovers carried out by the crews of Russian military ships and submarines in Ceuta generated nearly five million euros for the city, according to data from the Port Authority.

For Spain, the presence of NATO ships in Ceuta and Melilla would have at least allowed it to make the Moroccans believe that the two territories are under the protection of the Alliance, which would defend them in the event of an attack. The kingdom has never ceased to claim the two autonomous cities. A few days ago, it affirmed in a letter addressed to the UN that it "has no land borders with Spain" and that Melilla is an "occupied territory".