Will NATO borders extend to Ceuta and Melilla?

It is not new for the idea to be raised, but at a time when Putin is still determined to prevent NATO from expanding further east of Europe, who do you think can stand in the way of the alliance if it wants to expand from the other side, that is, to the southern borders of the continent? This may not seem possible or expected right now. The Ukrainian fire has not yet been extinguished, and no one can say for sure where it will spread, or whether its fire will recede quickly, or not?

But what will prevent, in the meantime, the largest military alliance in the world from extending its arm far, not to the eastern outskirts of the European continent, as the Russians are concerned, but towards its southwest, opening its large military umbrella over two small regions, barely distinguishable on the map of North Africa, and have existed since Several centuries under the control of the Spaniards? What will inevitably be raised at that time, although the hypothesis seems remote, is whether this matter will pass quietly or not? Will the objection be on the part of the Russians, and perhaps only the Chinese? Or will the Maghreb, who are the owners of the house, then, despite all their differences, stand together against this step?

Certainly, it will not be easy for anyone to anticipate the extent of the consequences or repercussions that such a decision might leave in the form of if it were taken on the entire region. It is no secret that for months, Madrid has been looking seriously for this to be possible. This may be one of the reasons why the relative excess enthusiasm of the Iberians these days for what is happening in Kyiv seems understandable, even though Spain is a member of the European Union and NATO, and it is the two organizations that lead the confrontation with the Russians, which makes it accordingly It is obligated to implement all the decisions and positions issued by them, with regard to the ongoing war in Ukraine, but this may not alone justify its strong presence in the recent crisis. It is also not yet known if he had asked the Spaniards, or if they took the initiative on their own to send what the Spanish Prime Minister described last Wednesday as “offensive military materials to the Ukrainian resistance.” Otherwise, it will not mean, in any case, but one thing, which is that they decided to burn all their boats towards Moscow, which makes them compared to other European countries that maintained a margin, albeit limited, for maneuvering, more like those who put all their eggs in one basket, which is the NATO basket, hastily, and at a time Relatively early, the war is still in its early days and weeks. There is no doubt that the motives or calculations that made them take that option and not others, may be, and contrary to what may seem, completely unrelated to what is happening in the Ukrainian arena. It is certain that the Iberians feel, like the rest of the Europeans, the seriousness and seriousness of the threat posed by the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, but they also see the current situation as an ideal, and perhaps also rare, opportunity to draw the attention of their partners in the European Union and NATO, to the biggest issue that has occupied them in months The last, which is the issue of the occupied Moroccan borders, that is, Ceuta and Melilla, which, over time, has become a real concern for them. A few months before the crisis of the Polisario leader emerged, former Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani said, in a resounding statement he made in December 2020 to Al-Sharq TV news channel, that “Ceuta and Melilla are among the points on which it is necessary to open the discussion. He is the master of the situation now,” considering that this file “has been suspended for five to six centuries, but it will be opened one day.” This is what made Madrid summon at that time the Moroccan ambassador accredited to it to ask her for “clarifications” about these statements. Although Morocco did not formally or directly confirm its demands regarding the two occupied countries, considering that it was focusing all its efforts, after the American recognition at the end of that year of the Moroccan Sahara, on achieving a broader diplomatic breakthrough that would allow a final closure of that file, but it was searching in parallel with It is about providing the conditions required to present those demands in a timely manner. Perhaps some underestimated what happened in May last year, when Moroccans turned a blind eye to the entry of thousands of young men into the enclave of Ceuta. But that ignited more than one red light on the Spanish side. The Spaniards understood then that what they consider their borders with Morocco are not preserved or sacred, and that they can be breached when there is no agreement with Rabat. But was their appeal to Europe and NATO justified? Or was it at least proportional to what they might consider a Moroccan threat to their presence in the two occupied towns?

Undoubtedly, the request by some Spanish parties to extend NATO's protection to Ceuta and Melilla was further evidence of Madrid's inability to defend on its own what it considers its territory. The strongest sign that it is in a weaker position is that the alliance, which for more than forty years of its membership in Spain, for purely procedural and legal considerations, has not been able to do so. with lace. So what is left for the Spaniards to do? Practically nothing else but sitting at the negotiating table with Morocco to discuss the fate of the two occupied towns and islands.

Writer and journalist from Tunisia