The president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, stated this Monday that Spanish citizens have the right to know "what Spain has communicated to Morocco" and what "response has been received" after the "invasion" of Ceuta at the end of July and the police report that points to Moroccan gendarmes in that massive entry of irregular immigrants. In addition, he emphasized that the president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, "has frustrated a plan," which included some "concession" from the government of Pedro Sánchez to Morocco.
During the presentation of Vivas' conference at a New Economy Forum informational breakfast, Feijóo demanded to know what the Government has communicated to Rabat and what response has been received regarding "the images and information known by the Intelligence Services and the National Police" and after "the repeated questioning of the Spanishness of Ceuta and Melilla."
Feijóo explained that "the reaction" of the Ceuta president and his citizens, supported by a large part of the Spaniards in the mobilizations of a week ago, "has frustrated a plan that began with the invasion, continued with the resignation of the local population and the indifference of the rest of the Spaniards, and ended with some type of concession to the neighboring country." In his opinion, the "quiet strength of the Spanish nation" has been "underestimated."
The leader of the PP has valued the "admirable dignity" of Vivas in the face of "the indignity of a Government that, in his opinion, lost its dignity a long time ago." "You already had a place in the history of Ceuta, and now you also have a place in the hearts of millions of Spaniards," he said addressing the president of the autonomous city.
Demands the appearance of the director of the CNI
After emphasizing that a crisis of this magnitude cannot be "swept under the rug," he considered it "unacceptable" that the Commission of Official Secrets continues without hearing the explanations of the Executive. "The Government must accept the appearance of the director of the CNI --Esperanza Casteleiro-- in the Commission of Official Secrets," he insisted, emphasizing that "no one has the right to prevent it."
Feijóo has recalled that in recent days there has been talk of "contacts with Morocco" and that "the ambassador had been summoned," when it was later learned that in reality who was called "was the chargé d'affaires of the embassy." "Well, Spaniards have the right to know what Spain has conveyed and what response it has received. We want to know what has been asked. We want to know what explanations have been requested from the ambassador," he pointed out.
In the same vein, he emphasized that the PP wants to know what "has been transmitted in the face of the repeated questioning by several ministers of the Moroccan Government about the Spanishness of Ceuta and Melilla." "We want to know what Morocco has responded. We want to know if any information has been conveyed and if there has been any rectification or not. And we want to know if the ambassador is really going to be summoned or if the strong economy of the euro is going to settle for disdain," he added.
The popular leader has stressed that a crisis of this magnitude cannot be managed "with silence, with ambiguity, and with subordination." "Spain has to speak clearly and has to make itself respected. And I add, before Morocco and also before the European Union," he stated.
Criticism of the Government and support for Ceuta
Feijóo, who has praised the "energy," the "calm," and the "political and moral leadership that has united the people" of Vivas, has defended that "defending Ceuta does not consist of setting it on fire, but in protecting it so that this crisis does not end up destroying it." "Never has a Government been so far from the national sentiment and, what is worse, never has a Government been so far from the national interest," he concluded.
The leader of the opposition has pointed out that the nation "has made it abundantly clear that it will democratically defend the normality, coexistence, and Spanishness of Ceuta and, of course, also of Melilla." "Neither radicalism nor indifference," he added.
He has also emphasized that, since the beginning of the crisis, his party has behaved "with the state stature that the Government has lacked" and has been guiding the Executive on the steps to follow, from the declaration of national interest emergency and the single command, to the request for help to the EU, the tightening of regulations, the reform of the Immigration Law, an economic plan for the city, and the involvement of Frontex.
Likewise, he has censured that the Government "imposes" control of the port of Ceuta and has warned that "placing more than a thousand immigrants in a port, a few meters from the ships that transport passengers to the continent" represents "a great irresponsibility, which also hinders the work of the State's security forces and bodies." "Ceuta needs to know with what instruments and in what timeframes all those who occupied it illegally will be returned," he has emphasized.
Feijóo has harshly accused Pedro Sánchez's Executive of having left the neighbors of the autonomous city unprotected and has assured that "law and order will again be the guarantee" of the freedom of the people of Ceuta. "That the people of Ceuta live peacefully has to be and will be a national priority," he has reiterated.
Support from the PP to Vivas and European agenda
Feijóo and twelve regional leaders of the PP have supported Vivas this Monday at the informational breakfast, on the eve of his trip to Brussels to address with community officials the situation of the autonomous city.
The meeting was attended by the president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno; the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso; the president of the Xunta de Galicia, Alfonso Rueda; the president of the Region of Murcia, Fernando López Miras; the president of the Generalitat Valencia, Juanfran Pérez Llorca; and the president of Melilla, Juan José Imbroda.
The vice president of the Government of Aragón, Mar Vaquero; the president of the Basque PP, Javier de Andrés; the president of the PP of Catalonia, Alejandro Fernández; the president of the PP of Castilla-La Mancha, Paco Núñez; and the president of the PP of Asturias, Álvaro Queipo, have also attended, in addition to the national steering committee of the party, including its general secretary, Miguel Tellado.
The event took place just before Vivas's departure to Brussels, where on Tuesday he will be received by the European commissioners for Home Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, and the one for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Suica. There he will also hold meetings with the president of the European People's Party, Manfred Weber, and with the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.