Felipe VI Visits Melilla and Ceuta for the First Time Since 2007 and Defends Spanish Sovereignty Over Its North African Territories

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia visited Ceuta on October 13 and Melilla the following day, the first trip by Spain's monarchs to the two North African territories since 2007. Thousands of people took to the streets waving Spanish flags to greet them, in a visit loaded with political weight after months of tension with Morocco and the migration crisis of the summer.

During the trip, the king argued that both territories are an inalienable part of Spain and said the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity are not up for negotiation. He also pledged that the state would not leave Ceuta's roughly 80,000 residents alone or unprotected, a message aimed at both the local population and Rabat.

The royal visit comes just over two and a half months after more than 70,000 people entered Ceuta from Morocco between July 30 and 31, the episode that triggered the worst recent migration crisis between the two countries. Sections of Spain's political right have accused Morocco of deliberately orchestrating that surge in crossings, an accusation both Rabat and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez have repeatedly denied.

On the Moroccan side, King Mohammed VI had already publicly rejected any pressure or blackmail tied to cooperation between the two countries, and Rabat maintains its longstanding claim to sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla. As of this writing, Morocco has not issued an official response to the Spanish royals' visit to the two cities.

Felipe VI and Letizia were accompanied during the trip by Prime Minister Sanchez and by local authorities and civil society representatives from both territories. The visit, the first by a Spanish monarch to Ceuta and Melilla in nearly two decades, is being read as a gesture of institutional backing for the two enclaves at a moment of especially strained relations with Morocco.