Spain Drops Plan to Include Ceuta in Schengen Area, Maintains Visa Requirements

Spain has removed this option from its strategic plan for the economic development of Ceuta, reports Europa Press, specifying that the visa continues to be required for Moroccans from Tetouan and Fnideq who pass through the port of the autonomous city to enter the Iberian peninsula. Before the border closure, the inhabitants of these Moroccan cities near Ceuta were exempt from visas.

Government spokeswoman Isabel Rodríguez announced the news last Tuesday after the Council of Ministers and plans to explain it in detail on Wednesday during a visit to Ceuta. The president of the autonomous city, Juan Vivas, has asked that "like the commercial customs that are planned in the plan, the visa requirement should also be imposed on people entering through the Tarajal border."

Morocco has always claimed the two autonomous cities. After Spain’s change of position on the Sahara, it has put this claim on hold. But it reiterated it in recent days by supporting in a letter addressed to the UN that Morocco has no land border with Spain. For his part, Pedro Sanchez and his government have reacted by reaffirming that the two cities are Spanish.