Spain Morocco Border Crisis Ceuta Melilla Customs Blockade

While Madrid anticipates opening its border with Gibraltar in disregard of European rules, the situation with Morocco remains completely frozen. The April 2022 roadmap, agreed between King Mohammed VI and Pedro Sánchez, provided for the opening of commercial customs posts. Nearly three years later, these crossing points still do not exist due to obstacles from Rabat.

On Bladi.net : Morocco blocks the customs of Ceuta and Melilla

The newspaper El Confidencial reveals that the Spanish government has never complained about this breach of agreements. On the ground, travelers endure a real ordeal to pass through controls. At Beni Enzar, the slowness and supposed meticulousness of Moroccan agents block hundreds of residents, including children and elderly people, exposed to the elements. Customs officers even confiscate simple packets of biscuits or sealed bottles of water, ignoring the usual tolerance regime.

This administrative paralysis is accompanied by an explosion of irregular immigration to Ceuta, which Moroccan authorities allegedly do not curb. During the first four months of the year, 2,101 migrants reached the enclave, recording a 330% increase compared to the same period last year.

On Bladi.net : Melilla Businesses Urge Action as Morocco Border Trade Stalls

An association of the Civil Guard even claims that these official statistics are largely underestimated. This blockade seems designed to economically asphyxiate these two autonomous cities. Faced with the distress of residents who own family or real estate in Morocco, no Spanish minister has yet raised their voice to denounce the vexatious treatment inflicted on travelers nor the diplomatic silence surrounding the closure of these borders.