At the stroke of noon, a food cart appears in the Congress hall. Bring a couple of plates of ham. The guts are calling. Salivation. Pass by. Everything against it, because, in addition, lunchtime is delayed, although five o'clock did not pass without eating. Long day in the Chamber to open the political course. The crisis in Ceuta due to the massive entry of more than 70,000 immigrants led Pedro Sánchez to appear this Thursday to offer his explanations, after more than a month has passed since the massive entry and the critical situation in the autonomous city has not yet been put to an end. The head of the Executive carried out a change in his position by toughening his discourse regarding Morocco: from exempting this country from responsibility, to not closing the door on it having any and to warning that he will take measures if "solid evidence" appears.
The exemption from guilt that almost all members of the Government have made for a month - "There is no evidence, no report, no indication that Morocco participated" - was not shared by everyone in the PSOE, by the partners of the Executive and by a part of society. The idea that Sánchez is lukewarm or soft towards Morocco for whatever reasons each considers is a story that members of the Government are aware of is installed in a part of the collective imagination and that is very difficult to combat. "Each one is the owner of his words and his silences," say socialist sources regarding La Moncloa's position in this crisis. Within the Executive there are members who consider it vital to do "pedagogy", "we must explain the situation well and what we have done and can and cannot do." A subject in which government sources object that it has been a subject to improve. There are voices that are clear: "We cannot treat people like fools," alluding to the fact that it was unreasonable to completely exonerate Morocco of responsibility when all the information was not available or what happened invited us to have, at the very least, doubts about it.
Although in La Moncloa they defend that there is no change in position, the President of the Government is not now closing the door on the investigations underway - both by the Security Forces and Corps and the Justice Department - to determine the involvement of the Moroccan government in the massive entry. The neighboring country is not pointed out "today", "for the moment", pending whether there are new developments or "solid evidence" appears. And in a screenshot, Sánchez warns that if these appear "we would act with total force," he said for the first time. "This government is not afraid to confront other foreign powers."
More forcefulness, in a key quote and scenario, with the aim of combating an idea: «There is a false collective imagination promoted by the PP that we are sold out to Morocco. To think that is crazy. We have done what we have considered because in the last week we have been accused of being trapped with Morocco," they explain in Sánchez's hard core. In an attempt to shake off that image, the Chief Executive closed the six-hour appearance by showing his commitment that "what happened these days has consequences and will be paid for." And in his speech a warning also new in this crisis addressed to Morocco: after what happened, "cooperation has to be different." Of course, without giving more details of how it has to change, although government sources allude to border controls, the exchange of information...
An example of this turn is that Sánchez decided to make public that on August 21, the Moroccan ambassador was summoned, something that had been kept secret, to reject the statements of a Moroccan minister about Ceuta and Melilla. "It was not counted out of prudence and responsibility," say government sources. Finally, Minister José Manuel Albares spoke with the ambassador by phone and met with the embassy's charge d'affaires, as it was outside Spain.
The Government is aware that it has to "measure the decisions and their consequences very well", hence it works to avoid a "diplomatic conflict" with Morocco, but, at the same time, it is obliged to convey a message in internal key to shake off the pressure from its partners who unanimously demand more firmness with the Alawite kingdom. "We do not have a policy of appeasement with Morocco, but rather a policy of neighborhood with red lines."
Because Sánchez's presence in Congress outlined the photograph of a leader in solitude in this matter. The political parties pressed and demanded more from the President of the Government. «It is the loneliness of the captain of the ship. We have to be serious and responsible,” they say in La Moncloa.
