Undisclosed naval incursion

El País revealed on Monday, 12 October, that at least one frigate and several patrol boats of the Royal Moroccan Navy sailed through Spanish waters off Ceuta without authorisation while more than 80,000 migrants entered the city on 30 and 31 July. Sources cited by the newspaper described the movements as an intentional and repeated violation of Spain's territorial sea, not a transit or an accident. The Moroccan naval activity continued into early August and, according to the same reporting, came close to causing a collision between warships of the two countries. It stopped only after the Spanish navy deployed vessels to those waters and the Ministry of Defence handled high-level contacts.

Government response

Pedro Sánchez acknowledged the episode to reporters at the Royal Palace on 12 October, during the reception hosted by the king and queen, and called it a "hecho puntual". The next day, government spokesperson Elma Saiz used the same label at the press conference after the Council of Ministers. She was asked three times why the matter had surfaced only on Monday and why Sánchez had not mentioned it when he appeared before Congress on 3 September about the Ceuta crisis. According to the reporting, the government's account is that the episode was resolved through dialogue. King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia visited Ceuta on 13 October, a visit the Andalusian government described as positive.

Opposition demands

Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the PP leader and the party's candidate for prime minister, demanded in a video that Sánchez appear before the Diputación Permanente, the body that stands in for the full chamber outside ordinary sessions and once the Cortes are dissolved. The Cortes have been dissolved following an early election call. Feijóo said:

It is not one more scandal, it is the negligent and unforgivable abandonment of 80,000 Spaniards by those who were obliged to protect them.

He said the PP had already informed the Audiencia Nacional, where the party is a party to the case, and that he would raise the incursion with EPP leaders at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday, 15 October. On Tuesday he had accused Sánchez of lying and said the logical step at the time would have been to tell Morocco that Spain would deploy the army to the border. PP secretary general Miguel Tellado challenged Defence Minister Margarita Robles to distance herself from the government, saying the episode was not a one-off:

Margarita Robles has one last chance to distance herself, but she will not, because to be a minister of Sánchez you have to be just like Sánchez.

Courts and regional reaction

Iustitia Europa, which leads the unified popular accusation in the case, asked Judge María Tardón at the Audiencia Nacional to investigate the incursion. Its filing argues that the facts could bear on offences against Spain's independence, territorial integrity and external security. The group also asks that the Defence Staff, the Guardia Civil and other institutions be required to preserve documentation and radar and sensor data, and that investigators establish which units intervened, their positions and movements, and which Spanish authorities knew of them. The Andalusian government demanded information from Madrid. Its spokesperson, Carolina España, who is also vice-president, said:

They have not been clear about what exactly happened and why it was concealed.

She noted that only 13 kilometres separate the Andalusian coast from Ceuta and said Andalusia should be informed about all these matters.

European reaction

The European Commission declined to assess the incursion. Its spokesperson, Paula Pinho, said Spanish and Moroccan authorities should clarify the facts and described Rabat as "an important and strategic partner" of the Union. The Commission did not say whether Madrid had informed Brussels of the incident or when, and Pinho said the matter would be studied. The EU foreign policy spokesperson, Anouar el Anouni, stressed the importance of cooperation with Morocco on migration. Feijóo has said he wants a good neighbourly relationship with Morocco but insists the country's territorial integrity is not negotiable.