The Minister of Foreign Affairs, the European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has pointed out that the Government will, for the time being, put on hold the request for Ceuta and Melilla to be integrated into the Customs Union, after Ceuta’s president, Juan Jesús Vivas, has conveyed to him his "doubts" about this step.
This initiative was among the measures announced by the Government to strengthen the "Europeanization" of the situation in Ceuta and Melilla as border cities of the EU, following the massive entry of migrants recorded last July in the first of the two autonomous cities, along with its presence in the European Committee of the Regions.
With regard to this latter point, in statements to the media in Brussels, Albares has advanced that next Monday the ministers of Foreign Affairs of the EU will approve the "permanent seat" that Ceuta will have from now on in the Committee of the Regions, within the 21 seats corresponding to Spain.
According to the minister, this is something that is "something that had to have been done a long time ago and that has been one of this Government’s main demands", also emphasizing that work continues to put in place a specific financial mechanism for the two autonomous cities.
With regard to the incorporation of Ceuta and Melilla into the Customs Union, Albares has recalled that, at first, both the president of Ceuta and that of Melilla, Juan José Imbroda, "were in agreement to move forward" in this area, taking into account its particularities, but that, for his "surprise", Vivas has recently conveyed to him that "he has doubts and that he needs more time".
"Therefore, that part is somewhat stalled," the minister has pointed out, stressing that any decision regarding entry into the Customs Union must be adopted in dialogue with Ceuta and Melilla. However, he has expressed his bewilderment at the fact that they "prefer to wait until after the elections." "I don’t understand it because I think this benefits above all the citizens of Ceuta," he concluded.