The Spanish government has responded firmly to fresh statements by Morocco’s Justice Minister, Abdellatif Ouahbi, concerning Ceuta and Melilla, formally conveying to Rabat that it will not accept any questioning of Spanish sovereignty over the two autonomous cities. “Ceuta and Melilla are two Spanish cities, located on the border of Spain and the EU. They form part of Spain’s territorial integrity and internationally recognised sovereignty and are likewise an integral part of EU territory. We categorically reject, and will continue to reject, any position regarding Ceuta and Melilla that suggests otherwise,” sources at Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The same sources added that “this position has been clearly conveyed today through diplomatic channels”, after Ouahbi once again publicly claimed the two cities as part of what he described as Morocco’s “historical and geographical right”. Spain’s response is intended to rule out any possibility that sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla could become the subject of bilateral negotiations and also stresses, at a particularly sensitive moment in relations between Madrid and Rabat, their status as European Union territory.
Morocco proposes opening talks on the future of the two cities
The statements that prompted the Foreign Ministry’s response were made by Ouahbi in an interview with Morocco’s public television channel 2M, in which he openly argued that the status of Ceuta and Melilla should form part of the dialogue between Spain and Morocco. “The question of Ceuta and Melilla will continue to be a subject of dialogue between us and Spain, and we will maintain our historical right and our geographical right,” the minister said. Ouahbi went further by proposing the creation of specific mechanisms to address the issue, including a possible “dialogue commission”, because, he argued, it is “an issue on which we cannot remain silent”. The Moroccan Justice Minister also called for “a definitive solution to the current situation” that would enable both cities to “return to the homeland”. His remarks revive a longstanding Moroccan claim dating back to the country’s independence in 1956 and one that Spain has consistently rejected. King Hassan II once proposed the creation of a Spanish-Moroccan “reflection group” to examine the future of Ceuta and Melilla, an initiative Madrid did not pursue. Spain’s traditional position has been precisely the opposite: sovereignty over both cities does not constitute a pending decolonisation issue and is not a matter open to negotiation with Morocco.
Statements come in the wake of the recent Ceuta migration crisis
Ouahbi’s intervention takes on additional political significance because it comes only weeks after the migration crisis in Ceuta at the end of July, which once again placed the Spanish-Moroccan border at the centre of the bilateral agenda. Although the interview was initially linked to the entry into force of Morocco’s new law regulating the legal profession, the minister spoke extensively about relations with Spain and connected the issue of Ceuta with recent migration developments. In this context, Ouahbi reiterated his request for Spain to hand over to Morocco all unaccompanied Moroccan minors who entered Ceuta on 30 and 31 July, when migration pressure reached its peak. The minister said Rabat was prepared to receive them once their identities had been verified. Bringing together the migration crisis, the situation of the minors and Morocco’s territorial claim over Ceuta and Melilla in the same interview introduces a new source of tension into a relationship that Madrid and Rabat had sought to stabilise in recent years through stronger cooperation in areas including migration, security, trade and the fight against human trafficking networks.
Madrid draws a red line and stresses the European dimension
The response from Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is particularly significant both because of the unequivocal language used and because it explicitly emphasises the European dimension of Ceuta and Melilla. Madrid has not merely reiterated that both cities form part of Spain’s territorial integrity; it has also stressed that they are “an integral part of EU territory”, thereby linking any challenge to their status not only to Spanish sovereignty but also to the European Union’s external borders. The message conveyed to Rabat through diplomatic channels therefore establishes a clear red line against any attempt to institutionalise negotiations over their future. Ouahbi’s remarks nevertheless open a new political front in relations between the two countries at a particularly sensitive moment following the July migration crisis. The Spanish government has chosen to respond immediately in order to prevent Morocco’s proposal for a bilateral commission from being interpreted as an issue that Madrid might be prepared to discuss. The position communicated by the Foreign Ministry leaves no room for such an interpretation: for Spain, Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish cities, part of European Union territory, and their sovereignty is not on the negotiating agenda with Morocco.