Foreign Minister: “Spain and Morocco were planning to officially open customs on January 8,” but there were “technical problems”

Eduardo González The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, acknowledged this Monday that the Governments of Spain and Morocco hoped to be able to officially open the customs of Ceuta and Melilla on January 8, but finally determined that “there is still work to be done” to solve any “technical problems”. “Both countries thought that the 8th could be the day on which there would be the first official step, since there were several tests that were conclusive”, declared the minister during a joint press conference with his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, at the Viana Palace. “However, there is still work to be done by both customs to be able to definitively solve any technical problem that may exist”, he admitted. The opening of the customs of Ceuta and Melilla took place last Wednesday after two and a half years of negotiations and in the The process was ultimately frustrated after two vehicles loaded with products from Spain were forced by the Rabat authorities to turn back, once they had crossed the two borders, for alleged technical reasons. In this regard, Albares took advantage of this Monday to attack the criticism of the People’s Party regarding what happened last week at the two customs offices. “No one, before the Spanish-Moroccan roadmap, had ever raised or suggested that one day there could be a customs office in Ceuta or that the one in Melilla could reopen,” he declared. “Everyone lived perfectly and now from time to time comments arrive about people who never worried about it,” he continued. “These days I have had to listen to quite a few lies and some stupidities regarding what this future customs office will be,” he denounced. The opening of the two customs posts is provided for by the roadmap agreed in April 2022 during President Pedro Sánchez's visit to Rabat and after the surprising decision of Pedro Sánchez's government to recognise the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara, which marked a reversal of Spain's traditional position on this issue and opened a new period in bilateral relations. "Once we have Morocco's firm political commitment to open it, I will not give up until this becomes a reality, as indicated by the Spanish-Moroccan roadmap itself," Albares said on Monday, who reiterated his own "commitment to these two cities, very dear to me". The PP requested at the beginning of this month the convening of the Permanent Commission of the Congress of Deputies to try to force José Manuel Albares to explain in Parliament the "conditions imposed" by Morocco for the reopening of the commercial customs post in Melilla.

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