Explained: How the migration crisis at Spain's enclaves Ceuta and Melilla came about

Diplomatic dispute as trigger

The immediate cause of the influx was the sudden disappearance of Moroccan border guards. According to research by several international media outlets, the Moroccan security forces had withdrawn from their posts. A diplomatic dispute with Madrid is suspected as the motive: Spain had previously had the Secretary-General of the Western Sahara independence movement, the Frente Polisario, flown to a Spanish hospital for treatment due to a COVID-19 illness. Morocco protested sharply against this decision.

Relations between Madrid and Rabat subsequently cooled significantly. Morocco began temporarily suspending cooperation in the areas of migration and security. The Spanish government under Pedro Sánchez rejected the accusation that the crisis was homemade, pointing to the Kingdom of Morocco's own responsibility for border protection.

Reactions in Europe

The EU's external borders came under pressure due to the incident. Brussels sent support teams from the European border agency Frontex to Ceuta to relieve the Spanish authorities in registering and caring for those arriving. At the same time, EU interior politicians called for a more coherent European migration policy, as several member states had refused to provide Spain with short-term assistance.

France temporarily closed its border with Spain in order to prevent migrants from continuing their journey overland towards the north. Other European states also tightened their controls. The images from Ceuta showed how vulnerable the EU's external borders are in the immediate vicinity of the African continent.

The majority of those arriving came from sub-Saharan Africa, according to Spanish authorities. Hundreds of minors were picked up in Ceuta unaccompanied. The region of Andalusia set up emergency accommodation and asked the central government in Madrid for additional funds. Human rights organisations criticised the conditions in the reception camps and the actions of the security forces at the border.

Consequences for relations with Morocco

The incident became a turning point in Spanish-Moroccan relations. It was only months later that both sides normalised their cooperation again, after Spain revised its position on the Western Sahara issue. The Ceuta migration crisis is now regarded as a cautionary tale for the political vulnerability of European external borders.

Since then, Spain and Morocco have signed new bilateral agreements on border security. Frontex significantly increased its presence on the west coast of Africa. The events of 2021 also led to a broader debate within the EU about reforming the Common European Asylum System.

Even years after the crisis, Ceuta remains a symbol of the tensions between the requirements of migration policy and diplomatic conflicts. Researchers see the incident as evidence of how closely migration management, regional power struggles and European foreign policy are intertwined. Since then, the EU has been striving to place its relations with Rabat on a broader foundation beyond migration.

Lessons for border protection

In parallel with the crisis in Ceuta, Spain intensified its border protection measures in the second enclave of Melilla. Similar scenes had played out there too, albeit on a smaller scale. The Spanish national police later published internal statistics showing that the number of irregular border crossers intercepted in Ceuta had risen to several times the previous year's level within just a few days.

The experiences from May 2021 continue to feed into the training of the Spanish border police to this day. According to its own statements, Madrid has expanded the sea rescue capacities in the Strait of Gibraltar and drawn up emergency plans for similar situations. At the same time, aid organisations warn that the structural causes – poverty, conflicts and climate change in Africa – will persist without comprehensive European responses.