Arriving in Brussels armed with hopes for greater EU involvement in the Ceuta border crisis, its mayor-president Juan Jesús Vivas’ message was clear: “If Ceuta sinks, Spain sinks, and Europe sinks.”
Speaking to the press on Tuesday (8 September) at the European Parliament in Brussels, the leader of Spain’s north African enclave urged the EU to be “more forceful” to the “threat” across its border.
“This situation is unsustainable, and we need the help of Europe to be able to return to normality as soon as possible,” he also said.
His comments follow the mass migration event on 30 and 31 July that brought over 80,000 people into Ceuta.
The border crossing resulted in about 141 deaths, some 78 in Spain and 63 in Morocco. It is estimated that between 5,000 and 15,000 migrants remain in the Spanish enclave of 83,000 inhabitants.
