Spain's Royal Household and government have set 13 and 14 October for King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia's visit to Ceuta and Melilla, Spanish news agency Europa Press reported, in the first royal trip to the two cities since 2007, when a similar visit led to a diplomatic crisis with Morocco.
The trip comes about two and a half months after the crisis of 30 and 31 July, when tens of thousands of irregular migrants reached Ceuta by sea, one of the biggest waves of arrivals the city has seen in years. Rabat, meanwhile, is in the middle of forming a new government under Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri.
Both the Royal Household and the Spanish government agreed on the visit, sources from the two institutions told the agency. The King and Queen will travel to Ceuta on 13 October, a day after Spain's National Day, and go on to Melilla on 14 October.
Morocco's parliamentary elections on 23 September were among the reasons the trip was pushed back, according to the agency. The full programme has not been released yet.
This will be Felipe VI's first time in the two cities since he became King in June 2014. Arriving at the Spanish Congress on Thursday, he was asked whether he was looking forward to the trip and answered only that he was, as always, Spanish news site The Objective reported.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced the visit at the end of August. He said the King would go when the conditions allowed, and that the head of state's presence had become necessary after what happened in Ceuta. In September, he repeated that the trip would go ahead, saying both cities needed the backing of state institutions.
Felipe VI had already voiced deep concern and condemnation after the migration wave. He later argued that Ceuta's border was not Spain's burden alone, since it is also an external border of the European Union, and called for Europe to share the responsibility.
Madrid has also made clear it is not seeking anyone's approval. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told Spanish radio station SER from New York on 23 September that the King and Queen do not need authorisation or permission from anyone to visit the two cities.
Spain does not discuss or negotiate its territorial integrity, Albares said, though he indicated that Madrid keeps Rabat informed as a matter of diplomatic courtesy.
At the same time, the Spanish government says it wants to keep working with Rabat on migration and border control. Sánchez has stressed that cooperation on several occasions, and his government has set aside more than 170 million euros for border protection in Ceuta and Melilla while asking the European Union for financial support.
The last royal visit, by former King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía on 5 and 6 November 2007, remains the only one since the Spanish monarchy was restored. It was met with protests outside the Spanish embassy and consulates in Morocco and near the border crossings, and Rabat recalled its ambassador in Madrid, Omar Azziman, for consultations. He did not return to his post for more than two months.
"Spain must understand that its colonial era is over and for good," Morocco's then Prime Minister, Abbas El Fassi, said at the time. Morocco demands both cities, which sit on its northern coast.
The question now is whether the Spanish monarch’s visit to Ceuta and Melilla will trigger a new diplomatic crisis between Rabat and Madrid, given the sensitivity of the two cities’ status for Morocco.
