The Kings are traveling this Tuesday to Ceuta in what will be their first visit to this autonomous city since the proclamation of Felipe VI, with the aim of expressing their support and closeness to the Ceutians two and a half months after the massive arrival of more than 80,000 migrants from Morocco, in a context in which the situation has not yet fully recovered normality.
Felipe VI acknowledged this Monday that they face the trip "with excitement and eagerness," as befits their debut in the city, in an informal chat with journalists during the reception held at the Royal Palace for the National Day. The presidents of Ceuta and Melilla, Juan Jesús Vivas and Juan José Imbroda, as well as representatives of civil society and the business fabric of both cities, attended the event.
At this same reception, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, emphasized that the Kings' trip aims to symbolize that normality is gradually recovering in the autonomous city, where more than 10,000 migrants remained after the events at the end of July and where several thousand still reside, after many have chosen to return voluntarily to Morocco.
In Zarzuela, they hope that trips like this, which had been prepared even before the incidents of the summer, since Ceuta and Melilla are the only Spanish territories that the Kings had not visited since the beginning of the reign in 2014, become habitual and not something exceptional.
As a sign of the importance given to this visit, the Kings will spend the night in Ceuta once the official agenda concludes. The program will begin with an institutional reception at the City Hall, where they will meet with the local government headed by Vivas and receive the keys to the city.
Afterward, they are expected to visit the Vicente Aleixandre School and then travel to the Sidi Embarek cemetery to participate in a tribute to the approximately 140 people who died while trying to reach the city by swimming between July 30 and 31 from the Moroccan coast. Many of them rest in this Muslim cemetery, in nameless graves, as not all have been able to be identified.
The day will conclude with a meeting with Ceutian civil society at the Parador of Ceuta, where the King is expected to address the neighbors to personally convey his support, as well as that of the Queen and the Royal House, after the events experienced in the city.
Commitment of the Crown since the beginning of the crisis
Although the visit to Ceuta, which will continue on Wednesday in Melilla, where Felipe VI and Letizia had not been until now, has been delayed since Sánchez announced at the end of August that it would take place, the monarch followed from the very first moment "with concern and indignation the serious events" and contacted Vivas in the early hours of the crisis.
As proof of his interest in the unprecedented situation in this city of about 80,000 inhabitants, the King received the Ceuta president at the Palace of Marivent on August 6. Even then, Vivas anticipated that the head of State intended to travel to Ceuta.
Since he resumed his public agenda, Felipe VI has taken advantage of various events to focus on what happened at the Ceuta border, defending that, as the external limit of the EU, the autonomous city must have the solidarity of all of Europe.
He expressed this during the state visit of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on September 29, when he described what happened as "unacceptable" and emphasized that it was a violation of a border that is not only Spanish but European.
On that occasion, he stressed that the countries located at the external border of the EU, such as Spain, cannot "face alone a responsibility that is of all." And during the state visit to Finland alongside Queen Letizia, he insisted on the same idea, reminding that the Union's border is unique and that "the threats, come from wherever they may and have whatever intent they may, are threats to all member States."
The King also emphasized that, in today's world, threats and risks are interconnected and, therefore, "when a member State is attacked or threatened, the Union as a whole is also attacked or threatened," stressing that it is "a thing of the past" and would be "short-sighted" to think that "a crisis is limited to the geographical location of the events," which is why he appealed for solidarity among European partners.
Official silence of Rabat regarding the trip
So far, Rabat has chosen not to officially comment on the movement of the Kings, despite Mohamed VI offering a speech before Parliament last Friday in which he referred to what happened, although without making explicit reference to Ceuta or to this trip of Felipe VI and Letizia.
The Moroccan monarch warned that the relationship with Spain is a "sovereign choice" of Rabat and cannot be conditioned by any type of "threats" or "blackmail," denouncing the "instrumentalization" of the events in Ceuta last July by certain "political media," without explicitly mentioning the PP, and criticizing the delay in the repatriation of minors.
For his part, the President of the Government avoided commenting on these statements in his conversation with journalists at the Royal Palace, beyond insisting on the relevance of the bilateral relationship with Morocco, and ruled out any expectation of a reaction from Rabat when what the Kings of Spain will do is "visit two Spanish cities."
Since the restoration of the monarchy, there had only been one state visit to Ceuta and Melilla, which was made by Juan Carlos I and Sofía on November 6 and 7, 2007, with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in La Moncloa. At that time, there was prior contact between Zapatero and the leader of the PP, Mariano Rajoy, before announcing the trip, something that has not been disclosed on this occasion.
That trip generated strong discomfort in Morocco, where Ceuta and Melilla continue to be considered prisons occupied by Spain and their sovereignty is claimed, and it also irritated the choice of date, coinciding with the anniversary of the 'Green March' on November 6, a key milestone in the Moroccan calendar that marked the beginning of the occupation of Western Sahara after the Spanish withdrawal in 1976.
In response, Mohamed VI summoned his then-ambassador in Madrid, Omar Azziman, who did not return to his post until more than two months later, despite the efforts of the foreign minister at the time, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, to ease tensions.
Moratinos not only called his counterpart, Taieb Fassi Fihri, but also, as it was learned, previously conveyed to him "out of courtesy" the travel plans, taking advantage of the fact that he accompanied the then-Princes of Asturias to the inauguration of the Cervantes Institute in Marrakech on October 30, days before that historic visit.