Sept. 3 (UPI) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez rejected allegations Thursday that his government had forewarning of the influx of more than 70,000 migrants into the disputed territory of Ceuta, a tiny Spanish enclave on the north African coast.
“It’s absurd to think that the government knew and did nothing,” Sánchez told lawmakers in Parliament in Madrid.
“We have examined all of the messages, statements and verbal reports from the state security apparatus. I can assure you that none of them went any further than a description of the data or routine reporting, and that absolutely none of them predicted the probability or the scale of what ended up occurring,” said Sánchez.
Sánchez’s comments came after tens of thousands of people and opposition parties took to the streets to protest his government’s handling of the July 30-31 border crossing.
The Opposition People’s Party called for Sanchez’ resignation, accusing the government of deception and a whitewash.
The developments followed reports that Spanish officials were advised a ruling by a Spanish court could see the number of arrivals by sea increase because it had been misinterpreted by many migrants as meaning they would permitted to remain in Ceuta if they swam from Morocco.
Saying the government had “nothing to hide,” Sanchez vowed to publish all the information and reports that officials had access to.
All but about 10,000 of the migrants have since returned to Morocco but the matter has snowballed into a serious domestic and diplomatic issue for the government that has impacted ties with Rabat and its EU neighbors amid allegations Morocco, which claims Ceuta as Moroccan, had done nothing to stop the mass crossings and may have encouraged it.
Sánchez said Thursday that he would seek assistance from Brussels, including requesting the EU border agency Frontex to set up a permanent operation in Ceuta and the establishment of a special Europol task force to monitor illegal migration into the enclave.
He said he would also ask for assistance to secure the border of Melilla, another coastal Spanish territory about 180 miles southeast of Ceuta.
Sánchez doubled down of his rejection of those claims, repeating statements made Monday in which he said there was no evidence Morocco was behind the inlflux.
“Lots of people think that the Moroccan authorities provoked this crisis. Up to this point, no one has provided any definitive proof to the government that would allow us to conclude that this mass border crossing… was planned or executed by the Moroccan authorities,” said Sánchez who stressed that the matter was still under investigation.
The crisis strained relations with Italy which temporarily sealed its border with Spain on July 31 and saw Foreign Minister Manuel Albares summon the Italian ambassador after Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani accused Madrid of running a immigration policy that “encourages human trafficking.”
Sánchez responded by noting that Ceuta is not part of Europe’s common travel area, that Italy more allowed illegal migrants to enter than Spain and criticized Spain’s EU partners for offering “very little support” to Madrid.
