Pedro Sánchez has shifted his discourse on Morocco in the debate in Congress about the Ceuta crisis. The president has admitted that he understands that many citizens think that Rabat is behind the massive entry of migrants, and he has not completely ruled it out, but he assures that for now he has no evidence because no service has presented him with anything definitive in this regard, and that is why for now he is waiting for the investigations to progress. Sánchez has recalled that a shock decision with Morocco would have serious consequences “without turning back,” referring to an incalculable conflict, and that is why to make it he has to be very sure.
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“If there were evidence [of Rabat’s involvement], we would act accordingly. This Government is not afraid to confront other foreign powers. But we are going to work loaded with proven facts. Others led us to a war with false evidence,” he said referring to José María Aznar and the Iraq war. The president has expressly criticized Aznar for proudly recalling the Perejil episode, when, according to the president, it was a demonstration of what not to do. Sánchez’s idea was clear: this could lead to a conflict, even armed, with Morocco, something frequent in the history of the two nations, and that is why it cannot be taken lightly.
On the contrary, the leader of the opposition, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and that of Vox, Santiago Abascal, have made it clear that they have no doubt that it was Morocco and have demanded a strong retaliation. “The operation came from Morocco, it was consented by Morocco and there are indications that Morocco coordinated it and that the Government knew because it was warned about it. Resign for incompetence or complicity. You will pay before justice,” Feijóo launched, who maintained that Sánchez is afraid of Rabat because they found something unconfessable on his phone when he was spied on with the Pegasus system, a matter that circulates a lot on social networks without any evidence. “What document or conversation was on your phone for you to behave this way? What does Morocco know about you? Why are you so afraid of it?” Feijóo challenged him.
Abascal went straight to the accusation of treason. “Sánchez is a traitor to Spain. Even to his own party. Today also a traitor to the police, whom he has wanted to point out as responsible for not warning. We see him very brave with the King of Spain and very submissive with the King of Morocco. It was not a migratory crisis, it was an invasion,” he insisted.
In the reply, Sánchez answered them with a question. “What would you have done? Would you have ordered the police to shoot the civilian population? Would you have preferred to kill hundreds or thousands of young people to avoid having to manage a crisis on the other side of the border? A PP government with Vox picking up the phone to order that I do not want for my country or any other. And now? Would you expel all immigrants without processing the asylum law? That is illegal. Would you resort to the desokupa gorillas? You know nothing about migration management. You only try to take advantage,” he awaited Feijóo. “If the solution is that they are going to jail us all, what respect for the independence of the judiciary!” he concluded.
Sánchez has hardened his discourse with Morocco in this debate, openly criticized the Moroccan ministers who claimed sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla, and even revealed a move that had until now been kept secret, that is, that on August 21 the Foreign Ministry summoned the Moroccan ambassador in Spain to protest these statements by two members of their Government.
The president even spoke of a reconsideration of cooperation with Morocco, a phrase that Sumar has clung to talk about “rectification,” as the Minister of Social Rights, Pablo Bustinduy, said, “We have to continue collaborating with Morocco. But after what happened this cooperation has to be different,” Sánchez said. The president seems willing to go further if it is proven that Rabat was behind it, but he insisted that for that he needs evidence.
“No one has provided evidence that can conclude that this massive entry was designed or executed by the Moroccan authorities,” the president insisted. “We know that on July 30 the gendarmerie allowed the border crossing. And that afterwards it controlled it. What was the reason for the lack of control? Was there incapacity or inaction? Our intelligence services will find all the keys. We will make all the reports public. For now, none of these institutions has delivered solid evidence that Morocco planned or executed this episode,” he insisted. The Government clarifies that many of these reports have to be declassified by the Council of Ministers, so for now there is no date to publish them but the idea is to do so with almost a dozen soon.
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However, the president’s loneliness in Congress has been very evident. Not only PP and Vox have bet on Morocco’s authorship. Also their allies on the left. Enrique Santiago, general secretary of the PCE and a heavyweight in the world to the left of the PSOE, former secretary of state in Sánchez’s Government, has been very direct. “Morocco has organized this with Israel. Summon the Moroccan ambassador officially. Let Felipe VI call Mohamed VI. President, action has been late, without sizing the humanitarian crisis. It took a month to convene the Security Council, IU requested it on August 8,” he launched. And he also asked to bring all the immigrants remaining in Ceuta to the peninsula and treat them humanely: “They are not blond nor are they all Christians, but they have human rights that we must protect.” Aina Vidal, from the Commons, went along the same lines: “The policy of appeasement with Morocco has failed.”
Gabriel Rufían, from ERC, was very direct: “I accuse Morocco of sending 80,000 people to take down the Government of Spain with the support of Washington and Tel Aviv and with the collaboration of the Spanish right and far-right. Mohamed VI is a murderer, and you are cowards,” he launched at PP and Vox.
In his speech, Sánchez has made more announcements of protection for Ceuta and Melilla, such as expansions of border control, a fixed structure at sea to prevent crossings by swimming, a review of cooperation with Morocco to strengthen control, and political decisions such as trying to include Ceuta and Melilla in the European customs union or give them a permanent seat on the Committee of the Regions, something that, as he recalled, the PP never did in all its years of Government, besides organizing a trip of the King “in the coming weeks,” again a move that, as he insisted, the PP never dared to make.
Sánchez has explained in detail that no agency warned that there could be such a massive crossing as there was. And there he also revealed several reports from different institutions that pointed to an increase in entries by swimming, but by no means predicted the passage of 72,000 people. And he insisted that the humanitarian aspect and respect for people trying to migrate fleeing poverty and war must not be forgotten.
“You cannot grab a human being by the arm and throw them to the other side of the border as if they were a sack of earth,” he recalled to explain that returns have their legal procedures that are slow. Sánchez insisted that the per capita income difference between Ceuta and Morocco is eight times, and that drives irregular immigration. “We can build a 100-meter wall, but there will always be people willing to throw themselves into the sea to cross. We have to strengthen our physical border, but we also have to give a legal and real alternative to those who want to come to work in our country and that we also need, because we have a demographic challenge,” he also said, recovering a pro-immigration discourse that he practically alone champions in Europe.
“By closing cooperation agencies, cutting those policies as PP and Vox do, we do not reduce immigration. For every euro less we spend on cooperation, we will have to spend 10 more on borders. Our model is not that of fear, it is that of humanity and solidarity. It may not be very popular today, but it is the one that works. We have reduced irregular entries at the borders by 40%,” Sánchez concluded, who ended with a direct and first-person thank you to the citizens of Ceuta for having cared for and helped the immigrants.
“Ceuta will come out strengthened from this onslaught,” he told them to conclude, promising them that in two more weeks they will take another 1,500 immigrants off the streets and give them a decent place to sleep while their return is processed. “We will not stop until your normality is recovered. We will not forget. This Government will never give up the sovereignty of Ceuta and Melilla,” he assured them.
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