Spanish King Felipe VI said on Tuesday that Ceuta and Melilla constitute an “integral part” of Spain, during a historic visit to the two North African regions over which Morocco claims sovereignty.
But the Spanish king, who rarely makes political stances, stressed the need for Spain to maintain “good neighborly relations” with Rabat, after the unprecedented influx of migrants to Ceuta in July strained historically sensitive relations between the two countries.
This is the first visit by a Spanish monarch since the visit of Juan Carlos, father of Felipe VI, in 2007, which then sparked a diplomatic crisis with Rabat.
Felipe said, "Ceuta and Melilla are an integral part of the political and national reality that Spain represents. Our country's sovereignty and territorial integrity are not subject to negotiation." He added during a visit to Ceuta accompanied by Queen Letizia that Spain and the European Union have “the intention and responsibility to maintain good neighborly relations with the Kingdom of Morocco.”
The king and his wife stopped to greet the attendees and shake hands with many of them as they headed to the municipal building to meet with local authorities. This visit comes less than seven weeks before the early elections scheduled for November 29, while the immigration issue is expected to be one of the main issues in the election campaign.
Nearly two decades after the last royal visit, the city of Ceuta, with a population of approximately 80,000 people, is trying to restore some normalcy following the shock caused by the arrival of more than 70,000 immigrants from Morocco in late July.
Although the majority of them left in the hours following their arrival, a few thousand remained in this small area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, where part of the population felt abandoned by the Spanish state. The crisis angered the population and weakened the position of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
Toni Jiménez, a 56-year-old nursing assistant who has been waiting in front of the municipal headquarters since nine in the morning, wearing a T-shirt bearing a picture of the King and Queen, said that she hopes the visit will send a clear message to neighboring Morocco that Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish.
She added, "We have been waiting for this visit for a long time," noting that the influx of migrants in July raised residents' fears about the future of the Spanish city. Cristina Carrasco, a 50-year-old government employee, told AFP that shaking King Felipe's hand was "a source of happiness and pride." She added, "We all told him, 'Don't forget us,' and he replied, 'No, we will not forget you.'"
"The most difficult moment in the history of Ceuta"
At the City Hall, Ceuta's Prime Minister Juan Jesús Vivas thanked King Felipe and Queen Letizia for their visit to the city at "the most difficult moment in our modern history." He added that Ceuta "is like a pressurized pot that could explode at any moment."
The government stresses the need to respect international law by assessing migrants' eligibility for asylum, while hundreds of unaccompanied children cannot be summarily deported.
The authorities prepared centers to receive more than 7,000 people and 2,800 minors, which allowed the evacuation of the large camps for migrants that were established on some of the city’s beaches, but some still live in the city’s streets or in the surrounding hills, specifically in the suburbs.
Ana Maria Díaz, a 69-year-old retiree, said that the king should have been early in his visit to see the informal migrant camps, and that he should visit the outskirts of Ceuta where migrants gather.
For her part, Ana Muñoz, a 33-year-old employee who confirms that she has partially lost confidence in the king, said, “If he had come on the second day of the invasion, he would have realized the reality of the situation here. But now, he will see that everything is clean, because they are all residing in tents (...), and because we simply moved them from one place to another.”
On Sunday, security forces evacuated the Guano camp, the last camp that was still standing on the region’s shores. A few minutes later, bulldozers demolished the temporary shelters where about 400 people were living.
The visit puts relations with Morocco to the test
The King and Queen also went to a cemetery to honor the migrants who died during the wave entering Ceuta, most of whom drowned while trying to swim around the border barrier. They also met with representatives of Muslims, Christians, Jews and Hindus in Ceuta.
