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Spain: customs decision in enclaves ‘irreversible’ so Moroccans need visas

February 15, 2023 at 1:47 pm

Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares on February 25, 2022 [Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency]

Spain’s Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, has confirmed to the head of the autonomous government in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta that having a customs border between the city and Morocco “is an irreversible decision”. The Ceuta official then stressed the need to impose a visa on Moroccans like the rest of Europe.

The reassurances from the minister to Juan Jesús Vivas were made during a meeting at the ministry in Madrid on Monday evening. The meeting was held in the context of the ongoing consultations between the Spanish government and autonomous governments that have special relations with Morocco, especially due to geographical proximity as in the cases of Ceuta and Melilla, as well as the Canary Islands and even Andalusia. It follows a summit in Rabat on 1 and 2 February between the prime ministers of Spain and Morocco, Pedro Sanchez and Aziz Akhannouch respectively. The agreements signed at the summit were said to “consolidate a new ear of mutual trust”.

37 migrants died while storming Spain's Melilla - Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]

37 migrants died while storming Spain’s Melilla – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]

Albares explained that the shift of the border between Ceuta and the rest of Morocco “will be organised and gradual.” He also referred to the exports from Ceuta to Morocco that started on 27 January.

From Ceuta’s point of view, the administration there wants organised trade subject to customs conditions instead of the chaotic smuggling that has been prevalent. Vivas emphasised the need to continue requiring all Moroccans entering Ceuta to have a visa, like the rest of Spain and the European countries. “Imposing a visa requirement on Moroccans has positive effects on the stability of the city in a sensitive area,” he noted.

Spain was permitting Moroccans from adjacent regions such as Tetouan in the case of Ceuta, and Nador in the case of Melilla, to enter the two cities without a visa. The European Schengen Agreement excluded the residents of the Tetouan and Nador regions from having to obtain a visa, but the Spanish government suspended this exception in May 2021 when thousands of Moroccans stormed Ceuta in response to the reception in Spain of Polisario Front leader Ibrahim Ghali for coronavirus treatment in April 2021.

READ: Morocco, Spain reopen their land borders after a two-year closure

Morocco did not reject Spain’s decision to convert Ceuta and Melilla into two customs centres, but local media claimed that Rabat was slow to implement the process. Morocco is now in a critical position because it implemented investments in northern Morocco, such as the Mediterranean port, to eliminate smuggling and reduce the activity of the port of Ceuta. An contradictory decision has effectively now been made.

The priority that Morocco gives to the Western Sahara file makes Ceuta and Melilla of secondary importance. However, public opinion in the kingdom and several other countries will not understand how Morocco decided to accept Ceuta and Melilla as customs areas at a time it plans to restore them to Moroccan sovereignty; customs recognition violates Morocco’s sovereignty and will complicate the issue.