Podemos leader Ione Belarra accuses the Spanish government of being “afraid” of Morocco. She insinuates that Rabat may possess sensitive information about Pedro Sánchez, without providing the slightest evidence to support the accusation.
Morocco is rapidly modernizing its military aviation, but Spain is believed to retain a clear lead. For former Spanish colonel Manuel Morato, Madrid’s superiority remains “real,” notably thanks to its Eurofighters, the training of its military personnel and its membership in NATO.
The Ceuta crisis has severely damaged Morocco’s image in Spain. Yet only 3.1% of Spaniards want to suspend diplomatic relations with Rabat. European intervention or immediate returns at the border receive far more support.
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.
Automotive, textiles, agriculture: 17,000 Spanish companies work with Morocco, and more than 350 have a permanent presence there. After the Ceuta crisis, any sanctions against Rabat would therefore risk directly hurting the Spanish economy.
The Ceuta crisis is beginning to affect Moroccan tourism. Spanish agencies are not yet seeing mass cancellations, but they are recording a slowdown in new bookings to Morocco. Latin American travelers, meanwhile, continue to book as usual.
Pedro Sánchez told Parliament that he had summoned Morocco’s ambassador to protest statements about Ceuta and Melilla. Spain’s Foreign Ministry later acknowledged that Karima Benyaich was absent and that another diplomat had attended the meeting.
One month after the mass crossings from Morocco, Ceuta’s property market is still holding up. But some sales have been suspended, and buyers are considering forfeiting up to 30,000 euros already paid rather than signing the final agreement.
A Moroccan man in his thirties was fatally stabbed on Thursday morning inside a relative’s home in Ceuta. A woman has been arrested, but police are still working to establish the exact circumstances of the dispute.
Morocco now reportedly holds an advantage over Spain in a field that has become central to modern armed forces: drones. This is the assessment made by Francisco Bendala, a former Spanish lieutenant-colonel, who nevertheless acknowledges Madrid’s superiority in the air and at sea.
Pedro Sánchez now acknowledges that Moroccan forces allowed migrants to enter Ceuta for ten hours on 30 July. However, the Spanish prime minister still refuses to accuse Rabat of organizing the mass arrival of more than 70,000 people.
A Moroccan man who claimed to be 17 and had been taken into care as a minor in Spain has now been formally charged by a Madrid judge. Medical examinations revealed that he was in fact well over 18. He is suspected of sexually assaulting a teenage girl.