Robles said the CNI did its job in Ceuta, and Marlaska insisted there was no "report"

The Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles, was the first member of the Government to appear before the Congress of Deputies to explain the crisis in Ceuta. During the hearing, shestated that the National Intelligence Centre (CNI) did "the work required" and shared the analysis with the State security forces and the Government delegation in Ceuta.

However, theMinister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlask, has responded to this hearing by stating that there was no "report" from the CNI that the migrants would enter the autonomous city en masse on 30 July.

The incumbent of the defense believes that the intelligence services did their job "well."He recalls that the work of CNI agents isprotected by the duty of secrecy, "which is a guarantee for their performance," but often "acts like a slab because it prevents them from publicizing their activities."

He explained that these agents "carry out their mission in Ceuta, exploring the situationin the area from multiple perspectives on a daily basis: relations with border countries, the geopolitical situation in the south, the actions of organised mafias, the rise and increase of jihadist terrorism and, of course, the development of irregular migration, taking into account the situation in neighbouring countries and in the Sahel, as well as destabilising activities through hybrid threats by international actors ".

Robles has stressed that even on those dates, the military "did the work that was required and required of them by competence and was sharedand analysed with the State Security Forces and staff of the Government Delegation. "

"There was no CNI report."

However, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska insisted on Tuesday that "there was no report" predicting a massive influx of migrants on July 30.

Asked at the press conference following the Council of Ministers whether he maintains his version of Robles' words, Marlaska said that he did not see "any warning of an introduction to these measures," but qualified that these two claims could be compatible if a distinction is made between regular monitoring of the situation and a specific warning that would anticipate the massive entry that eventually occurred.

The minister has insisted that if any of these characteristics had been foreseen, as happened in May 2021, the information wouldhave been extended "to the highest levels" to take the "extraordinary" measures necessary.

In this regard, Marlaska has called for "common sense" and "objective data" to argue that the information services were not flawed.