Sanchez Attempts To Defuse Ceuta Row
The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has rejected suggestions that Morocco was behind the storming of the Ceuta frontier last month.
Speaking in a Spanish radio interview Sánchez said investigations were continuing into how more than 70,000 people crossed into the Spanish enclave from neighbouring Morocco causing an unprecedented crisis for the territory´s 80,000 population.
Although the overwhelming majority have been returned to Morocco, some 5,000 remain including 1,200 minors, some of which maybe transfered to immigration centres on the Peninsular.
Sánchez dismissed speculation that the Moroccan authorities had deliberately facilitated the crossings.
‘There is no information from any intelligence centre that casts any doubt on the involvement of the Moroccan authorities,’ he said.
‘This crisis can only be resolved through cooperation and not through distrust toward Morocco, which would make the situation worse.’
He also rejected, for now, transferring migrants from Ceuta to mainland Spain, saying the government was preparing sufficient accommodation in the enclave itself.
Up to 6,000 reception places are expected to become available shortly, though it is unclear where they will be located.
He linked the surge partly to false claims surrounding a Spanish Supreme Court ruling on 8 July, which was subsequently misrepresented online as meaning that migrants who reached Ceuta by swimming could not be returned to Morocco.
According to Sánchez, misleading versions of the ruling were circulated not only by people-trafficking networks but through social media networks associated with Russia, Israel and what he described as the “international far right”.
‘After 30-31 July, rumours and disinformation spread on social networks linked to Russia and Israel, and to an ultra-right international that always uses migration to attack both Spain and Europe and divide it,’ he said.
Sánchez said the European External Action Service had identified Russian and Israeli-linked networks involved in spreading false information.
He insisted there had been nothing to suggest that an influx on anything approaching the eventual scale was imminent.
‘I can assure you that no information made it possible to gauge the scale, the seriousness of the crisis we were going to experience on 30 & 31 July,’ Sánchez said. ‘Nobody predicted that we were going to have an influx of those characteristics.’
Sánchez said those movements initially appeared comparable with seasonal increases experienced during previous summers.
Measures were nevertheless taken, including reinforcing border controls and increasing capacity at Ceuta’s temporary migrant reception centre, although preparations were nowhere near the level ultimately required.
The government has also faced criticism for waiting 25 days before establishing a single command structure to coordinate its response. .
The prime minister also announced that King Felipe VI is expected to visit Ceuta, although no date has yet been fixed.
Morocco is unlikely to welcome a visit by the Spanish monarchy, claiming sovereignty over the enclave.
Felipe has never visited Ceuta as king or during his years as Prince of Asturias.
