The king of Morocco, Mohamed VI, has raised the tone towards Spain in his first public intervention regarding the migratory crisis experienced in Ceuta at the end of July. During the opening of the new legislature in the Moroccan Parliament, the monarch denounced the "irresponsible statements" and the "instrumentalization" of the situation by certain Spanish political and media sectors and warned that the bilateral relationship has limits. "Collaboration is a sovereign choice and a voluntary commitment, which cannot be subject to any pressure or threat, nor to any blackmail," he stated.
The speech comes at a particularly delicate moment for Madrid and Rabat. Felipe VI and Queen Letizia will visit Ceuta on October 13 and Melilla on the 14th, in their first official trip to both cities since the King ascended to the throne in 2014 and almost two decades after the visit of Juan Carlos I and Sofía that provoked a strong diplomatic reaction from Morocco. Mohamed VI did not directly refer to the upcoming trip nor did he formulate a protest against it, so his intervention cannot be interpreted as an official rejection of the visit, although the context makes his words a particularly significant message just days before the trip.
Mohamed VI considers the migratory model with Spain exhausted
The core of the speech was on migratory cooperation. Mohamed VI acknowledged the advances made with Spain in recent years, including the fight against irregular immigration, but maintained that "the current model of cooperation has reached its limits" and that the successive border crises demonstrate the need to modify it. Morocco, he defended, has behaved as a "responsible and reliable partner" and expects to receive equivalent treatment from its allies.
The reference has as a backdrop the massive entry recorded on July 30 and 31, when tens of thousands of people crossed from Morocco to Ceuta. The official Spanish figures have placed the episode at around 72,000 entries, although other public sources have reported figures close to 80,000. The vast majority subsequently returned to Morocco, but thousands remained in the city and the crisis temporarily overwhelmed Ceuta's reception capacities.
Rabat rejected from the beginning having encouraged the entries and attributed what happened to the mafias and to messages spread on social networks about a supposed relaxation of border controls. The Spanish Government has also not officially accused Morocco of provoking the crisis and has pointed out that it does not have solid evidence to support that thesis, although the episode reopened in Spain the debate about to what extent migratory cooperation makes Madrid dependent on the decisions of Rabat.
Criticism of the laws and decisions of Spanish judges
Mohamed VI went further and directly pointed to the Spanish legal framework. According to the monarch, cooperation currently faces "obsolete legal provisions and judicial decisions detached from reality" that hinder the repatriation of minors and of people who, he claimed, fraudulently use refugee status. The Moroccan king believes that these limitations ultimately favor the actions of networks dedicated to the irregular trafficking of people.
One of the implicit references points to the ruling issued in July by the Spanish Supreme Court regarding immediate returns at the border. The ruling established limits on its application to people intercepted at sea when attempting to access Spanish territory by swimming. There are also reinforced guarantees in the case of unaccompanied foreign minors, whose return cannot occur automatically and must take into account their individual situation, the location of their family, and their best interest.
The difference is relevant: Morocco demands faster procedures to recover its citizens, while Spain is obliged to apply its legislation, European Union law, and international treaties on asylum and the protection of minors. It is precisely this clash between political cooperation and legal guarantees that Mohamed VI has now identified as one of the main problems in the bilateral relationship.
"Pressure, threat or blackmail"
The most forceful passage came when the Moroccan king responded to the criticisms that arose in Spain after the Ceuta crisis. Without naming specific parties, he spoke of "irresponsible statements from certain political and media circles" and denounced a "flagrant exploitation of the situation." He then publicly set a red line: Morocco's collaboration with Spain is voluntary and, he said, cannot be conditioned by pressures or threats.
The term "blackmail" has repeatedly appeared in the Spanish political debate in recent months. Different opposition parties have accused Pedro Sánchez's Government of maintaining an excessive dependency on Rabat, and some leaders have linked the migratory pressure with Spanish policy towards Morocco. The Executive has rejected those accusations and defended that bilateral cooperation is essential to control migratory flows, combat human trafficking networks, and maintain stability in the Strait.
Mohamed VI now intends to change that framework. The monarch announced that Morocco will present its partners a new strategic document with a "clear and practical vision" aimed at shared development, economic competitiveness, and regional stability. He did not specify what modifications Rabat intends to introduce or whether this new doctrine will involve changes in border control mechanisms, migrant readmission, or European funding.
The most symbolic visit of Felipe VI to Ceuta and Melilla
Everything happens on the eve of a trip of enormous symbolic weight. The Kings will arrive in Ceuta on Tuesday, October 13, where they will meet with the city authorities, visit a school, and participate in a tribute to those who died at sea during the migratory crisis in July. They will then hold a meeting with representatives of Ceuta's society, and Felipe VI will deliver some words.
The agenda also includes an unprecedented decision: Felipe VI and Letizia will spend the night in Ceuta. It will be the first time in democracy that a head of the Spanish State spends the night in the autonomous city. On Wednesday, the 14th, they will travel from there to Melilla, where they will visit the Assembly, an educational center, and hold another meeting with representatives of civil society in which the King will also give a speech. Pedro Sánchez will not accompany the monarchs, although the visit has been agreed upon between the Government and the Royal House.
The gesture has diplomatic relevance because Morocco claims sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla, while Spain considers both cities an integral part of its national territory. The Moroccan press has referred to them again in recent days as "occupied enclaves," but the Government of Rabat has so far avoided issuing an official protest regarding the trip of Felipe VI and Letizia.
The precedent of 2007
The last visit of the Kings of Spain to the two autonomous cities took place in November 2007, when Juan Carlos I and Sofía traveled to Ceuta and Melilla. Mohamed VI reacted then with much greater force: he summoned the Moroccan ambassador in Madrid for consultations and described the trip as a "counterproductive step," in addition to considering it an affront to Moroccan national feelings.
Almost twenty years later, the context is different. Madrid and Rabat have built a much closer relationship since 2022, especially after the change in position of the Spanish Government on Western Sahara, when Sánchez supported the Moroccan proposal for autonomy as the "most serious, realistic, and credible" basis for resolving the conflict. Collaboration now encompasses migration, trade, security, counter-terrorism, and the joint organization with Portugal of the 2030 World Cup.
Precisely for this reason, Mohamed VI's speech is relevant. It does not break with Spain nor expressly question the visit of the Kings, but it does warn that Morocco wants to redefine the conditions of migration cooperation and that it does not accept that this collaboration be used as a tool of political pressure. The difference from 2007 is that Rabat seems to be opting, at least for now, for a political warning rather than an open diplomatic crisis.
A relationship facing another test in Ceuta
The coming days will allow us to see how far this hardening goes. The trip of Felipe VI and Letizia will send an unequivocal message about the link of Ceuta and Melilla with the Crown and the Spanish State, while Morocco maintains its territorial claim intact. The decision for the Kings to also stay overnight in Ceuta further reinforces the symbolism of the trip.
Mohamed VI has avoided responding directly to that question, but he has chosen the eve of the trip to put his own demands on the table: to review the system of migratory cooperation, to facilitate repatriations, and to make it clear that Rabat considers its collaboration a sovereign decision. Madrid and Rabat thus arrive at the royal visit without a diplomatic break, but with a Moroccan message that is much more demanding and with Ceuta once again placed at the center of one of the most sensitive foreign relations for Spain.