A report by experts in Public International Law and International Relations presented this Friday in Congress asks for a proposal to the EU to create a specific statute of Union Law that considers Ceuta and Melilla as “EU external border cities in Africa”. The authors of the report, the fifth carried out by the Ceuta and Melilla Observatory, entitled “The European consolidation of Ceuta, Melilla and the other Spanish territories in North Africa”, generally advocate taking the initiative from Spain and seize the opportunity offered by the new relations with Morocco.
The professor at the University of Cádiz Alejandro del Valle, coordinator of the report, who advocated in the presentation for “greater involvement of the EU in the area of the Straits”, has opined that “there are legal bases” for this “specific ‘ad hoc’ status, based on the existence of a border event that does not exist anywhere else in the European Union and constant migratory pressure and the use of migration as a political weapon”among other circumstances.
Although consider this solution “more feasible than waiting for a reform of the treaties” of the EU to introduce the establishment of a European outermost region for all the Spanish territories on the African coast, the experts’ report does not rule out this formula that has been talked about for a long time.
Together with this initiative, it suggests intensifying the Spanish and European normative references related to the islands and rocks of Spain on the African coast and, specifically with respect to the rocks of Vélez and Alhucemas, give them a differentiated function and meaning as “places of memory and interpretation of the Rif wars”. Regarding the Chafarinas Islands, he recommends transforming their privileged environmental status into a “window of opportunity” to provider a normalized framework for cross-border relations with Morocco through a special European statute managed by both states.
Other proposals in the report are, in terms of cross-border cooperation, to create a “zone of shared prosperity” with Morocco, following a model similar to that of Gibraltar and its Campo after Brexit, and reopening all border crossings allowing free movement with neighboring provinces and guaranteeing visa exemptions with Nador and Tetouan. Of course, he specifies, “strengthening border control measures, cwith more human, economic and infrastructure resources”.
Also, to formulate a new economic model that knows how to make the most of the opportunities offered by the inclusion of Ceuta and Melilla in the European customs territory and, in terms of security, “clearly” indicate the European dimension of Ceuta and Melilla as “territory and external border”, which the authors understand should be implied by the express mention of being covered by the clause of legitimate defense provided for in the EU Treaty against any armed attack from abroad.
Likewise, it proposes insisting that Ceuta and Melilla join the Committee of the Regions or, as an alternative, study their participation in the Conference of Regional Legislative Assemblies of Europe, and that both cities open offices in Brussels, like the autonomous communities have.
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