The crisis unleashed in Ceuta after the massive entry of immigrants on July 30 and 31 will dominate next Wednesday's first session of control to the Government of this new session period in Congress. In that meeting, PP and Vox will direct their questions to President Pedro Sánchez and six members of his Cabinet. The absence in the Plenary of the heads of Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Territorial Policy has led the opposition to concentrate its criticisms on the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska.
A week after Pedro Sánchez's monographic appearance on this issue, the autonomous city will once again be at the epicenter of parliamentary debate. The first to address this matter will be the head of the Executive himself, to whom the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, will demand clarification on whether he is being "blackmailed" by Morocco "for the information they have about his corruption and that of his family," points that he already raised in the Plenary on Thursday.
The other two questions directed at the president will be posed by the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and the spokesperson for ERC in the Lower House, Gabriel Rufián. Both agree in demanding that Sánchez explain to the citizens how he plans to face the final stretch of the legislature.
In this way, Feijóo will question the president literally asking "how are you going to continue governing what remains of the legislature?", while Rufián has opted for a shorter approach: "How do you face what remains?".
Although these are general questions, it is taken for granted that the situation in Ceuta will reappear in the debate, after it became evident in the specific Plenary on the crisis in the city that there was a lack of support for the Executive's management, which received reproaches not only from the PP and Vox but from practically the entire parliamentary spectrum.
Criticism from all its allies
The minority partner of the Government, Sumar, criticized the president for reacting "late" to the crisis and argued that his narrative to exempt Morocco from responsibility was not credible. In turn, the spokesperson for ERC, Gabriel Rufián, stated that "it is not sustainable" to disconnect Rabat from what happened and accused the Executive of handing over its "dignity" with its response.
Junts also attacked Sánchez. Its spokesperson in Congress, Míriam Nogueras, even claimed that the crisis in Ceuta has shown that the president is "disqualified" to continue in La Moncloa.
The PNV, another of the parties that facilitated Sánchez's investiture, accused the Government of "self-satisfaction," of having "arrived late," and of "not being up to the task," a criticism shared by the spokesperson for Bildu, Mertxe Aizpurúa. Podemos, for its part, reproached the president for having "capitulated" to Morocco and maintaining a "calculated inaction" in the face of the migration emergency, while Coalición Canaria urged him to stop collaborating with "corrupt dictatorships" like the Moroccan.
In any case, most of the issues related to Ceuta will be directed to the Minister of the Interior, as Margarita Robles, José Manuel Albares, and Ángel Víctor Torres have communicated that they will not attend the Plenary on Wednesday.
Specifically, the PP will ask Grande-Marlaska to assess whether he has been "up to the task" as Minister of the Interior after the outbreak of the crisis in Ceuta and whether he believes he is acting "with due diligence." Vox, for its part, wants to question him directly: "why have you betrayed the people of Ceuta?".
Possible censure of Marlaska
Both parties have also registered respective interpellations to the head of the Interior that will lead, a week later, to the voting of the corresponding motions. In this context, it is not ruled out that the PP and Vox will demand the parliamentary censure of Marlaska.
Those of Santiago Abascal intend that, through their interpellation, the minister detail "the measures that the Government will adopt to reverse the situation of insecurity caused by the invasion in Ceuta," while the PP wants him to speak in broader terms "about the crisis that the city is going through."
Sumar, a partner of the PSOE in the Executive, has also registered a question directed to the Minister of the Interior. The deputy of Compromís integrated into the plurinational group, Alberto Ibáñez, seeks to have him explain what implications it has for democracy "that journalists are attacked and prevented from informing in the face of the passivity of the National Police."
What Yolanda Díaz will say about the Ceuta crisis
The 'popular' also want the second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, to speak about the situation in Ceuta, who has so far not made a public assessment of the crisis, although she did support Sánchez's intervention in the Plenary on Thursday with her applause.
In addition, the PP intends to question the Minister of the Presidency and Justice, Félix Bolaños, to specify when normality will be restored in the autonomous city, and will direct another question to the Minister of Education, Milagros Tolón, to clarify whether the educational rights of the students in Ceuta are fully guaranteed.
Likewise, the party of Alberto Núñez Feijóo wants the Minister of Health, Mónica García, to explain whether her department has acted with all necessary means during the crisis in Ceuta, and for the head of Equality, Ana Redondo, to detail whether she believes that women feel safe in the autonomous city after the massive influx of migrants recorded at the end of July.