The Diplomat
The Popular Group in the Senate has requested the appearance of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, to comment on the recent statements of the Senate of Morocco, Enaam Mayara, in which he assured that Ceuta and Melilla are two cities “occupied” by Spain and that we should not rule out the possibility of “recovering them someday without resorting to arms”.
During an event of her party, the nationalist Istiqlal, on the occasion of the first anniversary of the meeting in Rabat between the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and King Mohamed VI, Mayara declared last April 7 that the two cities continue under “Spanish colonization” but her 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 which has always claimed Moroccan sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla and which is part of the current Moroccan coalition government, together with the National Grouping of Independents (RNI) of the Prime Minister, Aziz Ajanuch, and the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM).
As reported by the PP of Melilla, the Popular Parliamentary Group in the Senate has submitted a request for the appearance of the Minister of Foreign Affairs so that he “explains what is the official position of the Government regarding the public affirmation of the president of the Moroccan Senate, Enaam Mayara, that they will ‘recover’ the ‘occupied’ cities of Ceuta and Melilla”.
For its part, the spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs in the Senate, the popular Pilar Rojo, has asked the Government, through a battery of questions, to explain “what diplomatic measures the Government is carrying out to address this situation and resolve it”, how Mayara’s words will affect “the bilateral relations between Spain and Morocco” and if “any kind of dialogue or negotiation has been established with Morocco to resolve the situation caused by the president of the Moroccan Senate”.
The senator also asks if the Government “has requested clarifications or rectifications from the Moroccan Government”, if “there is any concern on the part of the Government about the economic, social and political impact that could be caused by the opinion of the President of the Senate on Ceuta and Melilla” and “what is the Government’s policy to maintain and protect the territorial integrity of Ceuta and Melilla in the context of Morocco’s statements?”.
During the last High Level Meeting 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 are going to “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, the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, assured a few days later 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”.
