Podemos has presented in Congress a proposition with which it proposes to advance towards the transformation of Ceuta into an autonomous community, with the aim of ensuring full territorial and political equality, as well as increasing the resources from the State that reach the city.
The initiative, formulated as a non-legislative proposition and that will be debated and voted on in the Foreign Affairs Committee, urges the Government to promote the full integration of Ceuta into Spain. To this end, it proposes that it cease to be a city to become an autonomous community, in line with what is provided in the Fifth Transitional Provision and in Articles 137 and 144 of the Constitution.
According to Podemos, the institutional singularity derived from the Statute of Autonomy of Ceuta, which granted it the category of autonomous city, is facilitating Morocco "to feed its claims" over this territory, and its transition to an autonomous community would mean "the logical culmination" of the process initiated in 1995.
In this line, the formation led by Ione Belarra also demands that the Executive promote the full integration of Ceuta into the EU, reviewing its current special regime and eliminating the exceptions that generate a differentiated treatment compared to the rest of Spanish territory.
Reinforcement of European support and state resources
Specifically, the proposal suggests incorporating Ceuta into the customs territory of the EU and the Customs Union, establishing a permanent European support mechanism for Ceuta as the external border of the Union and strengthening its access to European cohesion, infrastructure, migration, security, and economic development funds, granting it treatment comparable to that of an ultra-peripheral region.
In the text, reported by Europa Press, Podemos also demands that the Government increase "in a stable manner" the human and material resources that the State allocates to Ceuta, and that it implement coordination instruments and early warning systems that allow anticipating episodes of extraordinary pressure at the border.
In this same direction, the formation advocates the opening of "legal and safe" pathways for migration and requesting international protection, the recovery of sovereign control of the Spanish border by ending its externalization, and the review of cooperation agreements on migration, police, and economic matters with Morocco, "conditioning any cooperation to respect for Spanish sovereignty, human rights, and the principle of reciprocity."
Likewise, it suggests to the Executive to resume a Spanish foreign policy "autonomous" in the Maghreb and to ensure transparency and democratic control over the Ceuta crisis, making public the intelligence, police, and military reports related to the circumstances that preceded and accompanied the entry of immigrants, guaranteeing parliamentary control and the clarification of responsibilities that may arise.