Tag: Ceuta

• Tuesday, August 4th 2026 - 23:23 UTC

  Ceuta alerts security forces over social media calls for August 15

  

  The government of Ceuta has referred to the competent authorities messages circulating on Moroccan social media that call for a fresh attempt at irregular entry into the Spanish enclave on August 15, five days after a migration crisis that left dozens dead.

• Monday, August 3rd 2026 - 07:20 UTC

  Conflicting accounts over whether Spanish intelligence warned of mass entry into Ceuta

  

  Spanish intelligence services concluded that Morocco did not plan last Thursday's mass entry of people into Ceuta, although it allowed the crossings and drew political benefit from the international attention, according to sources cited by El País. Other reporting contradicts that account on a key point: whether the government was warned in advance.

• Friday, July 31st 2026 - 18:29 UTC

  Italy and France tighten borders with Spain after 50,000 enter Ceuta

  

  Italy ordered the reintroduction of border checks at its ports and airports with Spain on Friday, and France announced it would increase fivefold the officers deployed at its land border from Saturday, after tens of thousands of people entered the Spanish enclave of Ceuta irregularly from Morocco.

• Thursday, October 27th 2016 - 09:11 UTC

  Russian Task Force passes through Gibraltar Strait; Spain denies refueling at Ceuta

  

  Russia has withdrawn a request to refuel its warships in Ceuta, after Spain became the subject of international criticism, from the NATO secretary general among others. Spain had recently signed statements accusing Russia of war crimes in Syria, where it’s believed the ships are headed.

• Tuesday, February 18th 2014 - 20:39 UTC

  Spain battles Sub-Saharan migrants who managed to break into Melilla

  

  About 150 sub-Saharan migrants managed to enter Spain’s north African enclave of Melilla on Monday after a group of 250 stormed a barbed-wire border fence, the Spanish Interior Ministry said. Spanish media showed video of those who got over the fence running down the streets of Melilla shouting “Barca, Barca!” as they headed toward a detention centre.

• Monday, January 6th 2014 - 19:17 UTC

  King of Spain admitted in 1983 advances in Gibraltar would reactivate Moroccan Ceuta claims

  

  As negotiations over Spain’s entry to the European Union grew tense in 1983, King Juan Carlos twice told British officials it was not to Spain’s advantage to recover Gibraltar, according to newly declassified documents released to the UK National Archives.

• Saturday, December 7th 2013 - 05:56 UTC

  UK considers drawing a historic parallel between Gibraltar and Spain's Ceuta and Melilla

  

  The British Government drew a historic parallel between Gibraltar and Spain’s north African enclaves in a parliamentary response this week. While recognizing that Ceuta and Melilla had a different constitutional relationship with Spain, Europe Minister David Lidington said the enclaves and Gibraltar both stemmed from “a distinct set of historical circumstances.”

• Wednesday, December 4th 2013 - 21:47 UTC

  Tory MPs want Spain pressed on the 'legal problems' of Ceuta and Melilla claimed by Morocco

  

  A Tory MP has asked the British Government to press Spain within the European Union over “legal problems” arising from Ceuta and Melilla. Philip Hollobone, the Conservative MP for Kettering, made the request in a written parliamentary question on Gibraltar tabled in the House of Commons.

• Friday, September 20th 2013 - 19:38 UTC

  Looking back on time: when Garcia Margallo championed for Melilla and Ceuta as tax havens

  

  Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo has long been a vocal critic of Gibraltar’s competitive tax framework, denouncing the Rock as “a tax haven” despite its recognised compliance with international standards set by the EU and the OECD, among others.

• Monday, August 19th 2013 - 12:52 UTC

  Margaret Thatcher documents: King Juan Carlos in no rush to recover Gibraltar because of Morocco threat

  

  Spain’s King Juan Carlos told Margaret Thatcher’s most senior official at least twice that “it was not in fact in the interests of Spain to recover Gibraltar soon, even if it were possible.” Instead he agreed with the United Kingdom that it was for Spain to make herself attractive to the Gibraltarian people.