Spain’s PM says he received no advance warnings of Ceuta influx as he defends handling of crisis

By Jack Guy, CNN

(CNN) — Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has denied accusations that the government ignored warnings about an impending mass border crossing from Morocco to the enclave of Ceuta.

Sánchez has been under intense pressure over the crisis, which saw an estimated 72,000 people cross the border. Dozens died and many remain in the city.

In an address to parliament on Thursday, Sánchez said that there had been no “alerts or special notices” prior to July 30-31.

“We have examined all of the messages, statements and verbal reports from the state security apparatus,” he said.

“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.”

Defending his government’s handling of the crisis, Sánchez promised to publish a dossier of official reports showing all of the information that was available to the government.

“The government has nothing to hide on this matter,” he said.

Although most of the migrants have since crossed back over the border to Morocco, the incident has become a significant political issue for Sánchez and his government both at home and abroad. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Ceuta and other cities around Spain on Wednesday in protest against the government.

Relations with Morocco have been strained following reports that its government had facilitated the mass border crossing, but Sánchez tamped down the speculation.

“Lots of people think that the Moroccan authorities provoked this crisis,” he said.

“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,” he said, adding that investigations were ongoing as to whether they had in fact played any role in the incident.

Sánchez added that the two countries would continue to cooperate on border issues, but “it’s clear that after what happened this cooperation has to be different.”

The incident has also caused diplomatic issues within the European Union (EU), with anti-immigration leaders such as Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni calling for Spain’s membership of the Schengen visa-free travel area to be suspended. Italy also temporarily toughened controls on travel from the country.

The spat became so hostile that Jose Manuel Albares, Spain’s foreign minister, summoned the Italian ambassador on July 31 to discuss comments made by his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani, who claimed, without evidence, that Madrid’s immigration policy “encourages human trafficking.”

At the time, Sánchez pointed out that Ceuta is not part of the Schengen area, singled out Italy as a country that lets in more illegal migrants than Spain, and accused other European states of providing “very little support” to Madrid.

On Thursday, Sánchez said that he would ask for support from EU institutions such as Frontex, the bloc’s border and coastguard agency, in securing borders at both Ceuta and Melilla, Spain’s other enclave on the North African coast. Both are claimed by Morocco.

“We are going to ask that a permanent Frontex presence be established,” he said, as well as requesting a special Europol mission to monitor irregular migration to Ceuta.

The Spanish government will also ask the EU to recognize Ceuta and Melilla as outermost regions of the bloc, a special designation that allows territories that are separate from mainland Europe to join the EU customs union, said Sánchez.

An estimated 10,000 migrants remain in Ceuta, which has a permanent population of around 80,000 people, causing social tensions in the enclave and providing a talking point for Spain’s insurgent far-right.

However Sánchez also acknowledged that it is impossible to completely prevent border crossings.

“We aren’t going to guarantee that these borders are 100% secure, because behind them lie inequality and a search for opportunity, and no matter how high that border (wall) is, this is always going to be the case,” he said.

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CNN’s Issy Ronald contributed to this report.