Patxi López, spokesperson for the socialist group in the Spanish Congress, has acknowledged that Ceuta was “far from normal” after the recent migration crisis. At the same time, he defended the central government’s response. López spoke on Saturday on the programme LaSexta Xplica and stressed that the cabinet had made decisions “on the basis of the information it had at each moment”. More probably needed to be done, and some things could also have happened faster, he said.
López described the Desclasificación de informes on the crisis in Ceuta as a significant step; this involved the release and declassification of relevant intelligence documents. In his account, the analyses presented did not warn of the actual scale and intensity of the mass entry. Some documents rated the risk as low to medium. Had the later scale been foreseeable, “different decisions” would have been considered, López said.
The government had announced and partly implemented a series of measures in the preceding weeks. These included a mando único to coordinate security and administrative structures in Ceuta, as well as additional funding for the city’s socio-economic stabilisation. Cabinet documents and statements from La Moncloa indicate that the intelligence service’s assessments at the time CNI did not fully reflect the subsequent force of events. The head of government Pedro Sánchez reaffirmed the defence of the security services’ work in early September and called for institutional loyalty.
López also rejected criticism of regions governed by the Partido Popular, which, in his view, had not done enough to take part in the allocation and accommodation of unaccompanied minors. He called for concrete commitments to receive them and for support, rather than political escalation.
López’s remarks set out a dual position: acknowledging existing shortcomings on the ground and the pressures on Ceuta, while pointing to the state’s crisis management and the information now made public. Open questions include an evaluation of early-warning processes, operational coordination between the national police, Guardia Civil and regional services, and longer-term relief for reception facilities. The government will decide on possible further steps after reviewing the released documents and situation reports. No forecasts were made about possible new legislative measures.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).