Sánchez
takes rare swipe at Spain’s king over Ceuta crisis
The prime
minister pointedly contrasted his government’s hands-on handling of the surge
of migrants in the North African city with the monarch’s absence.
August
31, 2026 12:57 pm CET
By Aitor
Hernández-Morales
Spanish
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez appeared to criticize King Felipe VI on Monday
over his lack of involvement in the ongoing migration crisis in Ceuta, chiding
the monarch for his failure to visit the city.
“There
are more than enough reasons and motives for the head of state to visit Ceuta
and Melilla,” Sánchez told Spanish radio network Cadena SER, giving his first
interview since 72,000 migrants surged into Spain’s North African autonomous
city one month ago.
It is
highly unusual for members of the Spanish government to publicly challenge the
Crown’s actions. Yet Sánchez’s statement hinted at his frustration with the
head of state’s absence from the Ceuta response, which he contrasted with his
own emergency visit to the city, and his government’s on-the-ground handling of
the still unresolved crisis.
“A lot of
people think I’ve been governing for a long time, but I’ve only been in power
for eight years,” said Sánchez, who has visited Ceuta four times since becoming
prime minister. “The king has reigned for 20 years. How many times has he gone
to Ceuta and Melilla? Not once.”
Sánchez’s
statement was technically incorrect: Felipe VI has only been on the throne
since 2014. The prime minister appeared to be referring to former King Juan
Carlos I’s five-hour visit to Ceuta in 2007 — the last time a Spanish head of
state visited the city.
The only
other Spanish heads of state known to have visited were King Alfonso XIII, who
traveled there in 1927, and President of the Second Republic Niceto
Alcalá-Zamora, who visited Ceuta in 1933.
While
declining to “share the content of the conversations I have with the head of
state,” Sánchez emphasized he had recommended the king travel to the city. He
said a royal visit would happen but declined to say when, noting it depended on
“there being the conditions for it to happen.”
In the
past, Spain’s kings have played an important role in the country’s interactions
with Morocco. Juan Carlos I had a deep personal friendship with the late King
Hassan II of Morocco, and was frequently called upon to handle back-channel
negotiations when Madrid and Rabat clashed.
But
Felipe VI is not known to have a similarly close relationship with Morocco’s
current monarch, Mohammed VI. According to the Sánchez government, Spain’s king
was asked to call his counterpart in Rabat in the immediate aftermath of the
crisis but declined to do so.
Thousands
remain
Both the
Spanish government and EU officials previously stated that nearly all of the
unauthorized migrants who had crossed into Ceuta had returned to Morocco within
just a few days, but Sánchez on Monday said that around 5,000 remain in the
Spanish semi-exclave.
Over the
past week, clashes have broken out throughout the city. Several migrants have
been arrested for attacking members of the Spanish military, and Spanish police
had to intervene to protect migrants after a group of locals set fire to the
improvised shelters set up on one of Ceuta’s beaches.
Sánchez
expressed solidarity with Ceuta’s residents and said he was confident normality
would soon be restored. He compared the current situation to previous mass
entries of migrants into the Canary Islands in 2020 and 2021, which he said the
government had been able to handle.
The prime
minister said that in the coming weeks, the approximately 1,200 unaccompanied
minors who entered the city would be relocated to shelters on the Iberian
Peninsula. Nearly all the other migrants are subject to deportation, he said,
because “the majority of people who entered Ceuta did so for economic reasons”
and therefore do not qualify for asylum.
The prime
minister carefully avoided blaming Morocco for the crisis, instead attributing
the surge to human-smuggling mafias, as well as to online campaigns
orchestrated by Russia, Israel and “an international far-right group that
always uses migration not only to attack Spain but also Europe, and divide it.”
“Continuing
to spread defamatory lies will not distract from Sánchez’s disgraceful failure
to manage his country’s affairs,” Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said
on X in response to Sánchez’s interview.
“What
would Morocco gain from these kinds of tactics?” asked Sánchez. “I have no
information from Spanish security forces or our intelligence services that
would cast any doubt on Moroccan authorities.”
“This
crisis can only be resolved with cooperation,” he insisted. “Showing a lack of
confidence in Morocco will only aggravate this situation.”
Governmental
turbulence
Sánchez
denied the suggestion that his government had ignored intelligence warnings and
downplayed the growing rifts within his government regarding who knew what and
when.
Last
week, Defense Minister Margarita Robles told lawmakers in the Spanish
parliament that the National Intelligence Center — which handles foreign and
domestic intelligence as well as counterintelligence — had alerted national
authorities that a surge could take place. The statement contradicted those
made by Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who has systematically
insisted the government had no way of knowing such a crisis could take place.
In his
statements on Monday, Sánchez attempted to strike a compromise, saying that
while intelligence services had detected an increase in illegal entries into
Ceuta in the days preceding the crisis, none of the alerts they issued
predicted its magnitude.
He also
rejected the criticism he received for going on vacation in the immediate
aftermath of the crisis, saying: “Even politicians have the right to rest, but
I can assure you that the prime minister does not disconnect.”
Sánchez
has previously stated he will not only stand for reelection but that he intends
to remain in power for years to come. On Monday, however, he struck a less
confident tone, saying he would be willing to run for reelection if his
Socialist Party selects him as its candidate next year.
The prime
minister added that his “intention is to complete the term” that concludes next
year, but he declined to rule out calling snap elections ahead of the
nationwide local and regional votes scheduled for next May.
While
conceding that “change is always good,” Sánchez warned of the possibility of
the far-right Vox party coming to power. “We are talking about a regression
that has been seen in other parts of the world and that I, of course, am going
to fight tooth and nail to prevent from happening in our country.”
This
article was updated with comments from Gideon Sa’ar.
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