Spanish government takes sole command in crisis management in Ceuta

Following the summer break, the Council of Ministers met this morning, led by the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, following the extraordinary meeting of theNational Security Council , at which the Spanish Government formally assumed the sole authority to manage the situation arising from the entry of 80,000 migrants from Morocco into Ceuta.

As announced on Monday in Ceuta by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Enterprise and Vice-President, Carlos Cuerpo, the Spanish Government has declared a 'state of interest for National Security' in the city and has assumed the sole authority to coordinate the response to the migration crisis, a structure that will be led by the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Victor Torres.

The details of the decision will be released at a press conference from 1 p.m., at which the Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration and Government Spokesperson, Elma Saiz, the Minister for the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the Minister for Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Angel Victor Torres, have announced.

Opposition criticism

The assumption by the Spanish Government of the sole authority for crisis management has led to criticism in various sectors, not so much for the decision itself, but for its late adoption.

The strongest criticism has come from the PP, who has reproached the government for waiting for Sanchez to return from his vacation to make the decision.

The PP's congressional spokeswoman, Ester Muñoz, has denounced that now, when Sanchez has returned from his vacation, it is now time to apply the National Security Act and the single command  and coordination. She recalled that the PP's leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, had previously called for these two initiatives and condemned the call of "alarmist, racist and xenophobic."

Laburr supports the decision and criticizes the right

For her part, the head of the Sumar Movement, Veronica Martínez Barbero, has acknowledged that it was necessary for the government to create a single command to manage the situation in Ceuta. In an interview at RNE this Tuesday, she said that it is one thing to accept the need to promote a single authority, we recognise that there is a crisis that requires coordination of the state, which we have been saying for a long time, which requires a strong humanitarian response to Morocco.

Barbero has accused the PP and Vox of "continuing blackmail in the field of human rights" and of "abhorrent and unacceptable racism." In his view, the PP "is not cooperating at all" and seeks to "create fear."

The single command will "help" Ceuta's state of health

Secretary of State for Health Javier Padilla said on Tuesday that the creation of a single command will not change the care these people receive in Ceuta, but will change their health conditions.

"As we have been saying since the beginning of this crisis, there are essential elements for the health of the population in this situation, such as health, hygiene, sanitation, water and food safety and greater coordination between the actors, and the single command is likely to improve the ability to demand and coordinate the accommodation of these people and their location in more specific places, and thus their situation," he said.