Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has ruled out any prospect of shared sovereignty with Morocco over Ceuta and Melilla.
«That is absurd. There has never been any dialogue with Morocco on this issue», Albares told a Spanish media outlet in New York. «Spain does not negotiate its territorial integrity with Morocco or with any other party. That includes Ceuta and Melilla.»
Albares said Madrid had reiterated this position to the chargé d’affaires at the Moroccan embassy when he was summoned to the Spanish Foreign Ministry on August 21. «We told him again that Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish and that Ceuta and Melilla are European», he said.
His remarks come after the US House Appropriations Committee described Ceuta and Melilla as being located on «Moroccan territory» in a report accompanying the 2027 appropriations bill covering national security, the State Department and related programs. The House passed the bill on July 15 by 217 votes to 209.
The committee, chaired by Republican congressman Mario Díaz-Balart, who is close to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also welcomed the State Department’s efforts to encourage diplomatic dialogue between Morocco and Spain over the future status of the two cities.
The idea of shared sovereignty has a precedent in Spain’s dispute with the United Kingdom over Gibraltar. In November 2001, Madrid and London reached an understanding on such an arrangement, but 98.97% of Gibraltar residents rejected the proposal in a referendum held a year later.