The President of Ceuta, Juan Jesus Vivas, on Friday again appealed to the government of Spain to reject asylum applications. According to him, the situation remains “extremely dangerous,” so Vivas demands the “immediate” return to Morocco of all migrants who stormed the border at the end of July and have since been in the autonomous city.
However, this request contradicts international law. In this regard, the head of Ceuta called on the Spanish General Courts to develop a “regulatory framework” that would ensure an “immediate and urgent” response. This framework should allow “operational” actions to return migrants in the event of an “invasion or violation of the territorial integrity” of the state.
Call for a new legal framework
The appeal of the President of Ceuta came after his meeting with the President of the Senate, Pedro Rollan, who supported the demand to create such a legal mechanism. This mechanism will allow the state to “urgently” return migrants in the event of a violation of territorial integrity. During a subsequent press conference, Juan Jesus Vivas expressed “incomprehension” that the state “does not have a regulatory framework to counter the situation that has arisen.”
“I find it hard to understand, and if this is the result of the lack of a norm that would provide an answer to this situation, it should exist now, because otherwise we would not have prepared our regulatory framework for this kind of unforeseen circumstances, which are no longer a hypothesis, because this is happening for the second time (the previous case was in May 2021)”, Vivas stated. In the opinion of the head of Ceuta, the ways to resolve the situation are “mistakenly” considered from the point of view of the Law on Foreigners.
“Not a migration crisis, but a violation of territorial integrity”
Vivas acknowledged that he shares the opinion of lawyers about the impossibility of mass return without considering each case separately. Therefore, he calls to consider the situation from the point of view of “qualification of what actually happened”: “This is not a migration crisis, this is, according to the words of Prime Minister Sanchez himself, a violation of the territorial integrity of Spain. Force can be applied in many ways, for example, with the help of weapons, but also with the help of a mass of people that overwhelms any capacity for containment and security. This is exactly what happened.”
He added that when developing norms for a state of emergency, a state of exception, and a state of siege, this was not foreseen, but now it has become obvious that “through mass infiltration, the sovereignty of the nation can be threatened.” “These facts must have a legal response, and for this there are legislative initiatives and the General Courts”, Vivas emphasized.
Regarding the suspension of the consideration of asylum applications, the President of Ceuta explained that the autonomous city he heads “cannot be a platform for facilitating entry to the rest of Spain and the continent.” Otherwise, in his opinion, any possibility of development and normal life in the city will be annulled.
In this context, Vivas proposes to “deactivate the use of migration pressure”: “It is necessary to try to avoid a platform for submitting and obtaining asylum, both for Moroccans — because their country is safe — and for citizens of other nationalities.” At the same time, he emphasized that Ceuta is “a territory distinguished by its solidarity.”
Support of the Senate and action plan
For his part, Pedro Rollan supported Vivas’ words and noted that a “regulatory framework” is urgently needed to “immediately and with sufficient tools restore normality.” According to the President of the Senate, “the anomaly is becoming chronic, and normality needs to be restored not tomorrow, but today.” From this point of view, he called on the government to “do everything in its power, and even more” to resolve the crisis, and the General Courts to work “right now” on a response so that “if this happens again, the response is urgent and decisive.”
During the press conference, the President of Ceuta described the situation on his territory as “unstable, bleak, and carrying maximum risk” for the safety of citizens, coexistence, normal functioning of state services, and national security. Juan Jesus Vivas expressed his “helplessness,” as he believes that the government “did not respond to the scale and proportions” of the events in its response.
In addition to insisting on the “immediate” return to Morocco of all migrants who crossed the border at the end of July, Vivas demanded a plan to “lay the foundations” and prevent the repetition of this “violation” of territorial integrity. In his opinion, such a plan should include “a guarantee of border security that does not depend on third parties, deactivation of the use of migration pressure to violate the territorial integrity of Spain, strengthening the presence of the state in Ceuta, support for the production sector, strengthening the city’s connection with the European Union, an investment plan in infrastructure and housing, as well as the elimination of structural and chronic deficits in the city’s finances.”
