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🇪🇸 Spain /Elections & Politics

Feijóo Escalates Ceuta Dispute After Aznar Urges Him to Be “Forceful” With Morocco

From El País · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Spanish opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said the mass entry into Ceuta originated in Morocco, was tolerated and coordinated there, and that Spain’s government had been warned.
  • His statement escalated tensions with a key Spanish partner and followed former Prime Minister José María Aznar’s call for a more forceful approach toward Rabat.
  • The Popular Party has relied on a disputed police report suggesting Moroccan gendarmes may have coordinated the incident and says Spain’s Morocco policy would change if it takes office.

After a month of carefully measuring every move toward Morocco, Alberto Núñez Feijóo changed the tone in Congress. The Popular Party leader directly attributed the mass entry into Ceuta to Rabat, saying: “Yes, yes, it must be said here: the operation came from Morocco, it was tolerated by Morocco, and there are indications that Morocco coordinated it and that the government knew because it had been warned.”

Yes, yes, it must be said here: the operation came from Morocco, it was tolerated by Morocco, and there are indications that Morocco coordinated it and that the government knew because it had been warned.

· Alberto Núñez FeijóoThe Spanish opposition leader directly blamed Morocco for the mass entry into Ceuta during a speech in Congress.

The statement carries particular weight because Feijóo hopes to become Spain’s prime minister, potentially within a year. By openly pointing at Rabat, he has raised the stakes in the dispute over the Ceuta crisis and accepted the risk of shaping a future relationship with a key partner. His position contrasts with the caution shown so far by Pedro Sánchez’s government.

The Popular Party says Feijóo is not independently accusing Morocco. Rather, it argues that he is repeating the conclusions of Spain’s police. The party has given full credibility to a report from the National Immigration and Borders Centre of the National Police, which suggested that Moroccan gendarmes might have coordinated the mass entry. The report triggered a political uproar because the government said it did not know about it when investigators handed it to the National Court judge examining the case.

forcefulness

· José María AznarThe former Spanish prime minister urged Feijóo to take a tougher position toward Morocco.

Some government sectors have challenged the report’s reliability, noting that it was prepared without agents on the ground and relied on open sources. Feijóo sharpened his position after the report became public. The PP had already privately protested to Rabat over the events of July 30, recalling Morocco’s ambassador to Spain, Karima Benyaich, and cancelling her attendance at the Throne Day celebration in Madrid. The party’s leadership says Spain’s policy toward Morocco “will change” if it reaches government, a position influenced in part by Aznar’s demand for greater “forcefulness.”

will change

· Popular Party leadershipThe party warned that Spain’s policy toward Morocco would change if it formed the government.
About this summary

Originally published by El País in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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