Spain's main opposition Popular Party (PP) on Thursday demanded that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declare a national emergency over a massive surge in migrant arrivals in Ceuta, accusing the central government of abandoning its responsibilities.
Ceuta President Juan Jesús Vivas reported that 1,500 people entered the autonomous enclave from Morocco in a single week, representing nearly two percent of the city's total population.
Local reception centers have reached 1,600 percent of their capacity.
Popular Party Secretary General Miguel Tellado stated in a press conference in Genoa that the central government holds sole jurisdiction over national borders and immigration matters.
“It will not be for lack of warnings. We have been warning repeatedly.
What there has been is a dereliction of duties and it has a huge cost,” Tellado said.
Party officials noted that more irregular migrants currently remain outside the official reception network than inside it, highlighting that the reception infrastructure in Ceuta has completely collapsed.
“We have a Government that has neglected its own responsibilities and the control of Spain's borders,” Tellado added.
Tellado urged the administration to step aside if it refuses to handle the situation, contrasting federal border control with regional forestry duties.
“If it does not assume its functions, let it give way to another government,” he said.
Legislative and Emergency Proposals
Popular Party Sectoral Coordination Deputy Secretary and MEP Alma Ezcurra recalled that her party registered a legal reform on July 16 to address aquatic crossings directly at the border, aiming “to enable border rejection in entries by swimming.”
Ceuta President Vivas called for unified federal direction to manage the border crisis.
“It must be approached from that perspective, as a national emergency through a decisive, energetic, proportional, forceful, immediate action that is coordinated through a single command,” Vivas said in interviews with Onda Cero and Cadena Ser.
Alongside the migration crisis, the PP announced it will register a 50-point national wildfire prevention and recovery plan in the Congress of Deputies on Thursday.
“We hope that this time the PSOE reconsider its position and does not vote against it again.
When the forest burns, the fire does not ask what each neighbor votes for, nor which Administration has the jurisdiction, nor which party governs in each place,” Tellado said.
Tellado called for an immediate national response system to prevent emergency improvisations across regional boundaries. “Fire is not defeated with slogans, sectarianism and parlor environmentalism.
It is fought with means, with rigorous annual planning, with resources and by listening to experts and those who live in our rural environment and know it well,” he said.
The party requested that the central government maintain sufficient aerial fleets, coordinated communication maps, and year-round prevention funding rather than passing emergency costs to municipalities.
“Spain cannot improvise every time a major emergency occurs,” Tellado said.
Addressing judicial investigations involving former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's bank accounts, Tellado stated the ongoing legal probe creates growing questions for the ruling socialist party.
“Complications arise by the moment for him, and if that happens, also for the PSOE,” he said.
Tellado linked the former prime minister's legal scrutiny directly to the current administration's leadership. “There are many questions accumulating and zero answers,” he said.
The opposition maintained that defense of past administration officials impacts the current government structure directly.
“Zapatero's future is linked to Pedro Sánchez's future. When Sánchez defends Zapatero, he is defending himself.
If Zapatero was able to collect a 1% commission for the rescue of Plus Ultra, it was because someone exercised illegal influence, and that someone possibly chaired the Council of Ministers,” Tellado said.
