Felipe VI declares Ceuta sovereignty non-negotiable
First visit since 2014 follows mass crossing and Moroccan warships in Spanish waters, von der Leyen responds with reinforced Morocco cooperation
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King of Spain in Ceuta: ‘Sovereignty and territorial integrity are not negotiable, and faced with any risk, our duty is their defense’
english.elpais.com
Felipe VI told residents of Ceuta on Tuesday evening that Spain's sovereignty and territorial integrity are "not negotiable," making his first official visit to the north African exclave since taking the throne in 2014. The speech, delivered just after 7:30 pm at the Parador Las Murillas, came two and a half months after more than 80,000 people crossed illegally from Morocco into the city — a breach the king said continues to have an enormous social, political, economic and psychological impact on residents and, to a large extent, on all of Spain.
The king invoked his role as head of state, which he rarely does in such speeches, and drew sustained applause with the line that "Ceuta is Spain… and Ceuta is Europe" — its border a border of the European Union, any threat to it a threat to the entire bloc. Spain's central government is still housing thousands of the arrivals in ten improvised facilities with room for 7,400 people; around 12,000 have returned to Morocco, the vast majority voluntarily through the El Tarajal crossing. Those who entered irregularly must, as a rule, return to their place of origin through the legally established channels, the king said, while being treated with dignity and humanity in the meantime.
The firm language answered a revelation El País published in recent days: on 30 and 31 July, as migrants walked or swam into Ceuta, several Moroccan warships repeatedly entered the city's territorial waters without authorisation, withdrawing only after the Spanish navy deployed vessels and the defence ministry became involved at a high level.
Brussels answered the same crisis in a different register. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said on Tuesday that she supported "reinforcing" cooperation with Morocco on immigration — the same state whose warships had entered Ceuta's territorial waters uninvited three months earlier, and whose decision to open or close the crossing now sets the tempo at a European frontier.
The king was accompanied by Queen Letizia, who greeted the crowd. In Rabat, which claims historical sovereignty over Ceuta, the visit passed without official comment.