The Diplomat
The Ministry of Interior informed yesterday that Spain will reopen the land borders of Ceuta and Melilla with Morocco next May 17, a day after the Spanish and Moroccan Foreign Ministers, José Manuel Albares and Nasser Bourita, took in Marrakech the “political decision” to reopen borders that have remained closed for more than two years due to the pandemic and the bilateral diplomatic crisis.
According to the ministerial order, to be signed this week by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, the Government will reopen the land borders of Ceuta and Melilla with Morocco at 00:00 hours on May 17, that is, at midnight between Monday and Tuesday of next week.
However, according to the Ministry’s press release, it will be a “gradual reopening”: at midnight between Monday and Tuesday the crossings of El Tarajal, in Ceuta, and Beni Enzar, in Melilla, will be reopened for citizens and residents of the European Union and for those persons authorized to move in the Schengen area. In both categories, in order to access Ceuta and Melilla, it will be essential to comply with the health requirements established by the Ministry of Health for these authorized land posts.
Likewise, as from Tuesday, May 31, legally recognized cross-border workers will be able to enter Spanish territory through the same crossing points, as well as those who, due to the expiration of the card accrediting them as such, have obtained a specific visa for Ceuta and Melilla. Within this gradual process, the Spanish-Moroccan working groups will determine the categories of persons and goods that will be able to access Ceuta and Melilla through the border with Morocco.
In addition, the border order to be issued by the Minister of the Interior extends all restrictions currently applied to the Spanish external land, sea and air borders under the recommendations of the Council of the European Union on the occasion of the health crisis caused by COVID-19 until 24:00 hours on June 15, 2022, and replaces the current one, which became invalid this Sunday, May 15. In addition, and in order to guarantee security needs, the Ministry of the Interior has reinforced police forces in both Ceuta and Melilla.
“The reopening is the result of the bilateral work carried out with the Moroccan authorities in the framework of the roadmap agreed after the meeting held by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the King of Morocco, Mohamed IV, and which has allowed to set the mechanisms that will govern the reopening – gradual, orderly and with all the guarantees of security and health – of the border crossings between the two countries,” said the Ministry.
In statements to the press after meeting with Bourita, Albares assured this past Wednesday in Marrakech that the objective of the two countries is an “orderly and gradual reopening so that it is really for mutual benefit and so that atypical trade also disappears and that, in terms of goods, we are at the best international standards, with transparency and within the regulation”. The opening of “passages and customs”, he specified, will apply both to “people and goods”. Therefore, the measure should entail the reestablishment of customs controls in Melilla, paralyzed since October 2018, and the establishment of a new customs in Ceuta, which currently does not exist and whose creation would imply, in Moncloa’s opinion, the implicit recognition of Spanish sovereignty over the two autonomous cities.
