Madrid and Rabat have decided to reopen on May 17 the border posts between northern Morocco and the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, which have been closed for more than two years, the Spanish Minister of the Interior announced on Thursday May 12.
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"
There is an agreement between (...) the governments of Spain and Morocco for the borders of Ceuta and Melilla, the land borders, to open on May 17 at 00:00, that is to say in the night from Monday to Tuesday
,” said Fernando Grande-Marlaska.
“
Final agreement
” with the Moroccan authorities
This process will be done gradually and will initially only concern nationals of countries in the Schengen zone, continued the minister, who was speaking to journalists in Madrid.
This reopening will then be extended “
from May 31
” to “
all cross-border workers
”, that is to say Moroccan nationals who work in these two cities, he continued.
Ceuta and Melilla constitute the only land borders of the European Union with the African continent.
The head of Spanish diplomacy, José Manuel Albares, announced Wednesday evening a "
final agreement
" with the Moroccan authorities for a reopening "
in the coming days
" of the borders of Ceuta and Melilla with Morocco.
Diplomatic crisis between Madrid and Rabat
They had been closed during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, in the spring of 2020, then kept closed the following year due to a serious diplomatic crisis between Madrid and Rabat.
The deal to reopen them comes after Madrid ended a nearly year-long diplomatic crisis with Rabat on March 18 by publicly backing Morocco's autonomy plan for Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony controlled by Morocco. but for which the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front, supported by Algeria, claim self-determination.
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The quarrel between Rabat and Madrid had been caused by the reception in Spain of the leader of the Polisario, Brahim Ghali, taken care of in a Spanish hospital in April 2021 to be treated there for Covid-19.
It had led to the arrival in Ceuta in May 2021 of more than 10,000 migrants in 24 hours, thanks to a relaxation of border controls on the Moroccan side.
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