The Diplomat
A group of experts who participated yesterday in the presentation by Europa Ciudadana of the report “The role of Ceuta and Melilla in the global agenda”, consider that greater international pressure from Spain is necessary to defend the two North African cities in the face of Morocco’s pretensions to take over their sovereignty.
The event was attended by Ambassador Javier Rupérez, Lieutenant General Francisco Gan Pampols and Admiral Juan Rodríguez Garat, who agreed that it is important that both international public opinion and European institutions be even more aware of the threat posed by Morocco to Ceuta and Melilla.
The three speakers insisted on the role that the European institutions should play in defending the Spanish nature of the two enclaves in North Africa.
Lieutenant General Gan Pampols stated that “the European institutions are today much more aware of the importance of Ceuta and Melilla than they were a few years ago”. While Javier Rupérez pointed out that “Europe is perfectly clear about what Europe’s borders are, and that Ceuta and Melilla are part of them”.
In this context, the role that the international community would play in the event of a hypothetical invasion of Ceuta and Melilla was also analysed. Lieutenant General Gan Pampols considered that “Morocco could not invade the autonomous cities because the international community would not allow it, since it rejects any kind of territorial invasion”.
As for NATO’s role, the three speakers agreed that it would defend the territoriality of the autonomous cities in the event of conflict by whatever means. However, Ambassador Rupérez warned that the first to defend the Spanishness of Ceuta and Melilla if there is a serious problem is Spain, regardless of whether NATO does so as well.
In addition to the importance of the international community, during the session, the declarations of important Spanish political figures in favour of the Moroccan thesis on Ceuta and Melilla were analysed, especially the declarations of the former Minister of Housing, María Antonia Trujillo, who went so far as to call for the two cities to be handed over to Morocco.
Admiral Rodríguez Garat dismissed the former minister’s request as nonsense, while Ambassador Rupérez said that anyone who denies the Spanishness of Ceuta and Melilla must abide by the consequences, claiming that in relations between Spain and Morocco, the Alawite kingdom should stop mobilising relevant Spanish voices in its favour in exchange for perks. In his opinion, this would help to improve relations between the two countries.
Finally, the three speakers agreed that Spanish citizens are perfectly clear that Ceuta and Melilla are as Spanish as any other city.
The Europa Ciudadana report reviews how, in recent years and as a consequence of Rabat’s revisionist policy towards Ceuta and Melilla, concern for both cities has transcended Spanish borders.
In this sense, the document concludes that both autonomous cities have shed the aura of indifference that had surrounded them. The report cites as a key date the assault on Ceuta in May 2021, which attracted media attention, prompted resolutions in the European Parliament, fuelled parliamentary debates at the national level and conditioned NATO’s position.
In this context, the report highlights the role played by Spanish MEPs and how the EU’s position is stronger today than it was before 2020.
In addition to European support, the report emphasises that Ceuta and Melilla have found their place in NATO and how the debate on legal ambiguity has been resolved in a positive way for Spain because the 2022 Strategic Concept leaves no room for doubt: NATO would be involved in the defence of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of its allies.
In any case, the report warns that this policy of instrumentalisation of Ceuta and Melilla by Morocco could continue, since the shift in Spanish policy towards Morocco in recent years has not been accompanied by an explicit recognition of Spain’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by Rabat. Therefore, it cannot be concluded that Ceuta and Melilla will enjoy peace of mind in the future.
