Tensions between Moncloa and Zarzuela due to the migratory crisis in Ceuta

The unprecedented migration crisis unleashed in Ceuta as a result of the massive entry of 80,000 people across the maritime border with Morocco has revealed a new friction between the Government and Zarzuela. After the avalanche on July 30, a minister suggested to Felipe VI that he call Mohamed VI to "thank him" for the help that the neighboring country initially provided for the return of a significant number of immigrants who had managed to enter illegally, as El País reported on Friday. This contact at the highest level has not occurred.

Two days after the images of the mass crossing that went around the world, the Royal Family issued a statement in which the Monarch expressed his "great concern and indignation" at these "serious events" and warned that "the State must ensure their safety and prevent these events - which, in addition, have resulted in a sad and tragic loss of dozens of lives - from being repeated." The day before, in his only visit to the autonomous city since the beginning of the emergency, Pedro Sánchez had denounced what he described as "an attack on the territorial integrity of Spain" for which he avoided holding Rabat responsible while publicly praising its "collaboration."

The institutional distancing was accentuated even more when, one week after crossing the border, Don Felipe summoned the president of Ceuta to an unusual reception at his summer residence in Palma de Mallorca. After the meeting in Marivent, Juan Jesús Vivas informed the media that the King had conveyed to him his "personal commitment" to pay a visit to his territory, the only one along with Melilla in which he has not been since assuming the throne. Any trip requires authorization from the Government.

Sources from Moncloa later indicated that the Executive does not put "any impediment, quite the opposite," for the Monarch to travel to the autonomous city, although they specified that "when appropriate" and with "absolute coordination in this regard." Likewise, they pointed out that "no recommendation or express directive" has been given not to do so at this time.

In the tension between Moncloa and Zarzuela, the key day refers to the dana. The Kings, the president of the Government and the then president of the Valencian Community, Carlos Mazón, were received with rebukes and a throwing of objects and mud during their visit to Paiporta, in November 2024. Don Felipe and Doña Letizia resisted the outbreak of citizen anger to be able to talk with the victims while Sánchez was evacuated and attacked with a stick.

Since then, the Monarch and his wife have tried to continue giving comfort to those affected by the misfortunes that have marked the country in recent months. Last summer they were in Lake Sanabria (Zamora), Las Médulas (León), Galicia and Extremadura, the areas most affected by the 2025 fires. In January of this year they also met with relatives of the 43 deceased in the train accident in the town of Adamuz in Córdoba, visited hospitalized injured people and attended the funeral in Huelva. The head of the Executive was not present at any of these events.

Officially, there is no record that Zarzuela and La Moncloa have recently held any conversation about the possibility of an upcoming visit by the King to Ceuta, a city shaken by the arrival of a contingent of immigrants in an irregular situation equivalent to its population. In the absence of specific official figures, police estimates suggest that there could be more than 8,000 people who have begun to be rehoused this week in "temporary" reception spaces following the discovery that the flow of returns to Morocco from the first days has been interrupted.