The Diplomat
The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, assured yesterday that “Ceuta and Melilla are as Spanish as Zamora or Palencia”, in response to statements made by the President of the Senate of Morocco, Enaam Mayara, in which he assured that both cities are “occupied” by Spain but we should not rule out the possibility of “recovering them someday without resorting to arms”.
During an event of his party, the nationalist Istiqlal, on the occasion of the first anniversary of the meeting in Rabat between the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, and King Mohamed VI, Mayara declared that the two cities are still under “Spanish colonization” but his party is convinced that Morocco “will recover one day the two cities occupied by negotiation and without resorting to arms”.
Enaam Nayara is the fourth highest authority in Morocco and a member of the executive of Istiqlal, a party that has always claimed Moroccan sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla and is part of the current Moroccan coalition government, along with the National Rally of Independents (RNI) of the Prime Minister, Aziz Ajanuch, and the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM).
During the last High Level Meeting (HLM) between Spain and Morocco, held last February in Rabat, Pedro Sanchez assured the plenary that both countries had reached a “commitment of mutual respect” whereby both in their discourse and in their political practice they will “avoid everything that we know offends the other party, especially in what affects our respective spheres of sovereignty”. These words obviously alluded, without mentioning them, to the Moroccan claims on Ceuta and Melilla and to the situation of Western Sahara.
In response to Mayara’s words, Margarita Robles assured yesterday, in an interview granted to channel Cuatro, that the position of the Spanish Government regarding the two Autonomous Cities “is clear and forceful” and, therefore, it can be said “with absolute and total forcefulness”, that “Ceuta and Melilla are as Spanish as Zamora, Palencia or any other city, and there is nothing more to discuss on that subject”.
Regarding the possibility of the Government asking for some kind of apology to Morocco, the minister simply replied that, “in the statements that each one makes, they will know the responsibility” that they have. In any case, she reiterated, “there is no debate, there is no possibility of debate in this matter: Ceuta and Melilla are Spain, there is nothing more to discuss”.
