Key facts
- Feijóo demanded navy deployment to Ceuta.
- Feijóo called for summoning the Moroccan ambassador.
- Feijóo called for recalling Spain's ambassador in Rabat.
- Feijóo stated Spain defends itself.
- King Felipe VI affirmed Ceuta and Melilla are inalienable parts of Spain.
Spain's conservative People's Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo on Friday demanded that the navy be sent to Ceuta following unconfirmed reports of a Moroccan patrol boat in the exclave’s waters Thursday. Feijóo wrote on X that Morocco's repeated incursions into Spanish waters are a pattern of aggression that demands a firm response, including summoning the Moroccan ambassador and recalling Spain's ambassador in Rabat for consultations. He added that "Spain is not for sale. Spain defends itself."
Feijóo's calls come amid heightened tensions over Ceuta and Melilla, which Morocco considers occupied territories. More than 70,000 migrants arrived in Ceuta in late July. King Felipe VI stated this week that Ceuta and Melilla were "an inalienable part of the political and national reality that is Spain," adding that the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity are not negotiable.