Not now. Someday, maybe. The Government is shaking off the pressure for the King to travel to Ceuta, as the Monarch himself promised this Thursday to the president of the autonomous city, Juan Jesús Vivas, and postpones it sine die. “His Majesty will visit Ceuta when it is appropriate and there will be absolute coordination,” stated Óscar López, minister of the closest proximity to Pedro Sánchez.
Read more King Felipe VI should not be pushed to act as a tightrope walker in Ceuta
Only 12 words concentrate, however, a high load, in two words. Because it implies that the Government does not consider it “appropriate” for it to happen now, when it would have the greatest relevance and meaning in the face of the aggression at the border caused by Morocco’s neglect, which does not recognize the Spanish sovereignty of Ceuta. In fact, the Prime Minister himself defined the massive avalanche as a “territorial integrity of Spain”, after no fewer than 72,000 migrants entered in just 24 hours. No response would be more forceful than a trip by Felipe VI, “Head of State, symbol of its unity and permanence,” according to the constitution.
The other key in Óscar López’s brief intervention is the reference to “absolute coordination”. It can be understood as an appeal to greater communion between Moncloa and Zarzuela, as if the King’s commitment yesterday before Vivas had unsettled or discomforted the Government. But that emphasis on coordination would also imply Morocco, considering the only known precedent, the visit of Juan Carlos I to Ceuta and Melilla in 2007, with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in government. Then, that milestone, the only trip of the Head of State to the autonomous cities in almost five years of democracy, was preceded by long negotiations in which even the gesture of rejection from Rabat was almost agreed upon – it called its ambassador for consultations. Then, the connection between Don Juan Carlos and the Moroccan Royal House was also key, now less fluid.
The Government cools down any imminent visit of Felipe VI to Ceuta, a possibility opened this Thursday at the meeting in Marivent with Vivas. “That the Head of State wanted to convey a message of encouragement, support, and affection to Ceuta is especially relevant,” praised the president of the autonomous city yesterday, after the meeting in Palma that lasted more than an hour and a half. And, in his “public” thanks, he also revealed that the Monarch “is committed to the visit to Ceuta and will make it, because the King fulfills his commitments. What I cannot say is when.”
That unknown left open by the Ceuta president responds to the fact that Felipe VI’s visit to the autonomous city is not in the hands of the Monarch, but of the Government. The King requires an endorsement from the head of the Executive and his ministers to make any official trip, as stipulated in the Constitution, which in its article 64 also states that such endorsement makes those who sign it “responsible” for the acts of the Head of State.
On the night of this Thursday, the Executive, when asked by this newspaper, avoided commenting on the commitment Felipe VI made. “The Government does not comment on the King’s commitments nor on his trips,” sources from Moncloa limited themselves to say, without entering into evaluations. Óscar López’s phrase goes further and the possibility of that visit remains frozen.
The Minister for Digital Transformation also referred to another controversy these days linked to the crisis: what will be the venue for the 2030 World Cup final, whose organization is led by Spain, along with Portugal and Morocco? Rabat’s interest in hosting the final fight for the World Cup is notable and has been one of the reasons suggested among interpretations to try to understand how a tide could move without being detected and stopped. That is, the ‘invasion’ of Ceuta as a pressure measure. And Óscar López only said that “the Government is working to make the World Cup a success.”
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