No one from the Spanish Government wants to give public and detailed information about a fact as specific as the attempt to enter Morocco this Wednesday of two vans with goods through the customs of Ceuta and Melilla, which were finally rejected on the Moroccan side. The secrecy reveals the tension and difficulties of a negotiation with Morocco to open a customs in Ceuta and reopen the Melilla. Talks that are on their way to being three years old and that have yielded few results as far as the transit of goods is concerned. It was a bet by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who announced it on April 7, 2022 in Rabat as part of the joint declaration after their meeting with King Mohamed VI. “The full normalization of the movement of people and goods will be restored in an orderly manner, including appropriate customs and people control devices at land and sea level,” read the roadmap established by both countries. It has not happened. , not this Wednesday either.
The Government delegation in Ceuta confirms to this newspaper the passage of a van with goods towards Morocco, but says that it is the Foreign Ministry that must report on what happened on the Moroccan side. The department headed by José Manuel Albares, however, refuses to even specify whether the entry of the goods was actually rejected by Morocco. They frame it as work in progress, a first phase to establish a customs that has never existed in Ceuta and that must be reopened after its unilateral closure in 2018 in Melilla.
“Spain and Morocco continue working on the operation of the first phase of the passage of your customs in Ceuta and Melilla. In this phase, the teams focus on the technical and administrative aspects of the process,” official sources from the Ministry assure this newspaper.
From the Government of Ceuta, for their part, they ask for the moment “caution and prudence”and they remember that in any case the city’s economy “cannot depend on commercial customs”, because the products that will be allowed to enter are few and of little added value.
In the first van of the Vivera company, products from cleaning, hygiene and home, and “only one truck per day will be allowed at the beginning,” they explain from the Ceuta spokesperson. “It is more institutional and political symbolism, an implicit recognition that there are two territories on both sides of the border.”
In Melilla, the Government delegation announced yesterday at a press conference the opening of a phytosanitary review system, but the status of the opening was not specified. There, a truck that transported household appliances and kitchenware He crossed the Spanish side through the Beni Enzar pass. It was the first effective customs expedition to be carried out (without three pilot tests) since August 2018. But, finally, Morocco returned the merchandise.
He Moroccan government At the moment he does not give explanations of what happened, to questions from this newspaper. Rabat considers both to be cities that belong to the kingdom. Part of the Moroccan political elite asks for his “liberation” and takes a dim view of the normalization that customs represents.
Sánchez recognized that the Moroccan plan to incorporate andl Western Saharal occupied within the kingdom as an autonomy as the “most serious, realistic and credible.” Thus began a time of rapprochement. The French Government has gone further, and President Emmanuel Macron has recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the territory to be decolonized.
Interior denies any obstacle
The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaskahas denied this Thursday “obstacles” in the reopening of customs with Morocco in Ceuta and Melilla, reports EFE. He has pointed to “technical issues that must be resolved” as the reason why it has not yet been opened. “What I make clear is that the degree of Spanish-Moroccan cooperation and collaboration is clearly important, relevant and of the utmost loyalty and reliability,” he said to questions from the press.
The first commercial expedition between Ceuta and Morocco could not be carried out due to the “lack of documentation” alleged by the Moroccan country, business sources have told EFE.
Likewise, the first export from Spain to Morocco was frustrated due to the Melilla land border after the reopening of commercial customs when a van with nearly 1,400 kilos of merchandise had to return. As confirmed to said news agency by the Quiles company that made the first export attempt, the vehicle returned to Melilla after spending the entire day in Moroccan territory. The businessman has said he does not know the reasons why he had to return, although he has assured that he had approval from Spanish customs.
