Pegasus complicates the relationship with Morocco and the reopening of the borders of Ceuta and Melilla

• Espionage A report on 'Pegasus' points to Morocco as the author of the infection of 200 Spanish mobiles

Two months after the letter that Pedro Sánchez sent to Mohamed VI in which he recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara, the land border crossings with

are still closed.

This was one of the main issues that had to be resolved with

but neither the letter nor the subsequent visit by Sánchez to the Alaouite king seems to have achieved it.

And now, the Pegasus crisis complicates the situation even more and jeopardizes the Government's detente plan with

Initially, Morocco informed those responsible for the Interior that it intended to open the border crossings on April 14, but it has been delayed and it is still unknown when it will take place.

The last decree to extend the closure of the Spanish borders expires on May 15, a date that, however, does not agree with that of the Moroccan side, which moves it to May 31.

The truth is that the two countries have had differences for weeks about the reopening conditions.

The main technical stumbling block at the moment is that

specifically the

, wants the resumption of passenger traffic between the two countries to be accompanied by the reopening of the Melilla commercial customs office, unilaterally closed by Morocco in 2018, and the creation of one in Ceuta.

The trade border at Ceuta's

pass is an express request to the Government of Spain from the president of Ceuta,

which Sánchez transferred to Mohamed VI on his trip to Rabat and to which the monarch would have committed.

“The goods will also circulate normally, under a commercial dispatch regime through the respective customs posts,” Sánchez explained in an appearance in Rabat.

But Vivas' claim goes beyond the establishment of a commercial customs office.

The president of Ceuta also defends the end of the exemption to the Schengen treaty as one of the solutions to mitigate the migratory pressure on the part of Moroccan citizens in the city.

Indeed, including Ceuta within the free circulation of the EU would cause the European border to be moved to Tarajal and would force Moroccan citizens to enter Ceuta by means of a visa.

Until the closure in 2020, people residing in the provinces of

and

did not need a visa to access the two autonomous cities.

Spanish sovereignty

Morocco has always been opposed to ending this Schengen exception, since the entry of Ceuta and Melilla into European free movement would be an explicit recognition by Rabat of Spanish sovereignty over the cities.

It will be necessary to see what happens after the turn of Spain with the Sahara, but at the moment there is no movement in that sense.

Nor has there been an agreement yet on what will happen to the cross-border workers that Spain wanted to include in a first phase of return to normality and that Morocco has not fully accepted.

To all these technical problems, now the Pegasus crisis has been added, which implicates Morocco as the main suspect of having used the

.

According to well-informed sources, there could be a change of heart in Rabat that could jeopardize the agreement on the imminent opening of the borders.

The Foreign Minister himself, José Manuel Albares, has only recently promised that "in the summer" the borders will be opened in an "orderly and gradual" manner.

These sources confirm that the case of espionage with Pegasus on Pedro Sánchez and the Defense Minister, produced in the days of the massive influx of people to Ceuta encouraged by Rabat and of which Morocco is suspicious -although the Government has been careful not to mention it expressly - has not gone down well in the neighboring country.

The first test of the new border relationship will surely come in

this summer 's

An official familiar with the border reality consulted by this newspaper warns that the activation of the Operation should be subject to better controls.

He believes that the situation in Ceuta should be comparable to that of the

airport in Madrid, and that the passengers of the vehicles are obliged to get out and be identified in order to cross into Spain, because, as he points out, security and control should prevail against the fluidity of the border.

Canceling the Schengen exception may be the solution by reducing the traffic of people and vehicles that intend to enter Spanish territory.

The Undersecretary of the Interior,

and the Director of Migration and Border Surveillance of Morocco,

chaired the meeting of the Spanish-Moroccan Mixed Commission on Thursday in Rabat.

The devices to guarantee the development of Operation Crossing the Strait in 2022 will be similar to those established in 2019. According to Efe, Morocco would not prevent it from passing through Ceuta and Melilla.

A commercial traffic of 400 million

New conditions.

The neighboring country does not plan to allow the indiscriminate entry of goods from the industrial estates in the vicinity of the

pass to return after the new border opening , considered as contraband by

and called "atypical trade" by Spain.

From Monday to Thursday, between 10,000 and 15,000 people gathered on alternate days for men and women, who passed all kinds of products and belongings in bundles to the other side.

An "atypical" business.

Commercial traffic between

and Morocco generated more than 400 million euros per year.

The passage of goods across the border constituted a surplus for the economy of both parties.

The "atypical" trade left large revenues in Ceuta and

.

They were products bought in

by merchants from the northern provinces of Morocco who took advantage of the lack of fiscal control of the border crossing to avoid Moroccan import tariffs.

Today, the four commercial estates located on the Ceuta border are ghost spaces where many stores have hung the "for sale" or "for rent" sign.

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• Ceuta

• Morocco

• Melilla

• Occidental Sahara

• Mohammed VI

• Pedro Sanchez

• Margaret Oaks

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