In July 2002, Morocco and Spain nearly went to war after a group of Moroccan gendarmes “seized” a small, uninhabited islet known in Spanish as Perejil Island and in Arabic as Leila Island. Madrid responded by sending military commandos, who disarmed the Moroccan group and returned its members to Morocco. Morocco argued that the islet “belongs to Moroccan national territory” because of its close proximity to the kingdom's coast. Spain, however, maintained that it falls under its sovereignty, as do the enclave of Ceuta and the city of Melilla, which Rabat also considers Moroccan territory. Madrid says it has exercised sovereignty over them for 500 years. This explains Spain’s response to calls by several British officials for Madrid to end its colonization of the two enclaves. Ignacio Molina, research director at the Elcano Royal Institute in Madrid, said the two territories are recognized as Spanish under international law and “are as deeply rooted in history as Spain itself.” He added that calls to decolonize them were “no less absurd than imagining France demanding sovereignty over the British islands of Jersey and Guernsey,” off France’s Atlantic coast. There is therefore a historical dimension to relations between the two neighboring countries, involving sovereignty and its implications. Rabat has previously used this issue as a means of political pressure on Madrid, as it did in 2021. As a general rule, when relations on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar are good - particularly when Madrid adopts Morocco’s approach to the Western Sahara issue - the dispute fades, only to re-emerge when Spain takes a position that departs even slightly from the Moroccan view. This was evident in the 2021 crisis. The latest crisis, however, was not driven by a similar cause, although its consequences and repercussions are no less serious than those of 2002 and 2021. Migrants sit at Trampolin beach, as they await entry to the CETI short-stay migrant center in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta, on August 1, 2026. (AFP) Spain’s responsibility The first consequence has been the individual and collective political pressure brought to bear on Spain, with its European partners holding it responsible for what happened. An open letter issued by 22 EU countries called for an urgent meeting of the bloc’s interior ministers to coordinate positions and agree on a “roadmap” for confronting any future migration waves. Notably, Madrid itself was among those calling for such a meeting. A diplomatic source in Paris said Spain was pursuing two objectives. The first was to reassure its EU partners and stress that it had quickly succeeded in bringing the situation under control. As evidence, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said nearly 48,000 illegal migrants had been returned to Morocco. That figure, however, requires confirmation and does not indicate that everyone who crossed Ceuta’s fence had returned, since some estimates put their number at 60,000. Madrid’s second objective was to defend its migration policy. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez therefore quickly warned that the hostile positions adopted by some European countries “undermine the European Union’s collective objectives in the long term.” Citing figures from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, he compared migration numbers between 2021 and 2026. He said 478,600 migrants had arrived in Italy, 340,600 in the Western Balkans and only 234,760 in Spain. Sanchez was responding to the Italian prime minister, who had called for Spain to be temporarily “excluded” from the Schengen Agreement, which allows freedom of movement for holders of Schengen visas. European capitals were alarmed after seeing thousands of young men and boys scaling Ceuta’s barbed-wire fence. France and Italy acted quickly to reimpose controls on their external borders. Paris increased the number of security personnel along its border with Spain fivefold, while Italy reinforced controls at its ports and airports. Reactions varied from one country to another. Finland and Denmark supported Italy on the Schengen issue, but French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez rejected the proposal, saying Saturday that “Spain’s departure from Schengen is not under consideration at all.” According to legal assessments, suspending Spain’s membership would not be easy, particularly because no such case has arisen since Schengen was established. Containment barriers are installed at Ceuta beach after a migration crisis impacted the Spanish enclave in North Africa, 01 August 2026. (EPA) Political repercussions Another equally important aspect of the repercussions concerns domestic politics. Many European countries are experiencing a rise in the popularity of far-right parties. This has been particularly evident in France, Germany and Britain. Countries such as Italy, Austria and Denmark are also governed by the far-right. Centrist and traditional parties are aware that images of the “invasion” of Ceuta’s shores could provide arguments for the far-right, which has warned for years about the flow of non-European migration to the continent. There are also movements such as that led by Eric Zemmour, head of the Reconquete party, who promotes the “replacement” theory - the idea that Muslim migrants from Africa and the Arab world are replacing the French and eroding France’s Christian identity. That theory has gained acceptance among some segments of the population, while opinion polls show Marine Le Pen, the candidate of France’s far-right National Rally, making major gains over her rivals ahead of the presidential election scheduled for next spring. One particularly striking phenomenon is that no European or non-European country has blamed Morocco, even partly, for what happened in recent days. The clearest evidence came from the Spanish interior minister. Asked by reporters Saturday about Morocco’s responsibility, he said: “Morocco poses no threat to Ceuta or to the rest of Spain because it is a reliable partner.” Grande-Marlaska added: “The events require an assessment by Spain and Morocco. But cooperation with its neighbor is what enabled Spain to bring the situation under control within 24 hours.” The president of the Ceuta enclave, Juan Jesus Vivas, was more cautious, saying the city had not yet returned to normal. To prevent a recurrence, Madrid installed a containment barrier along the breakwater fence extending into the sea, after tens of thousands of migrants crossed the border of the small Spanish enclave.
