Spanish Enclaves Struggle as Morocco Tightens Border Controls

At the Beni-Ensar border in Melilla, the reopening is still timid. Only people with a Schengen visa and a vaccination pass are allowed to cross. Most commercial establishments are still closed. In Ceuta, the situation is the same. No merchandise crosses the border, not even the small personal purchases of the few tourists. "They have reopened the border, but everything remains the same. The situation has not improved for most merchants. On the contrary, it has worsened," explains Nordin, a businessman at the Tarajal border, to El Confidencial.

For the moment, the transport of goods is prohibited at the borders, pending the implementation of commercial customs. According to Enrique Alcoba, the president of the Confederation of Entrepreneurs of Melilla, the reopening has not yet impacted the city’s economy. "We have many customers who cannot cross the border with the items purchased in the city, while this is not the case for items from Morocco which enter without any problem," he explains. For the president of the Confederation of Entrepreneurs of Ceuta (CECE), Arantxa Campos, the reopening is still "very timid".

Last weekend, the first after the reopening, 4,963 people and 1,713 vehicles crossed the Melilla border to Morocco. In the opposite direction, 5,106 people and 1,500 vehicles entered Melilla from Morocco. In the case of Ceuta, 27,122 people, including 16,075 Moroccans, crossed the Tarajal, while between 25,000 and 30,000 daily crossings were recorded at the Ceuta border in 2019.