Socialist Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sanchez claimed on Wednesday the thousands of illegal migrants that swarmed their way into Ceuta are not invaders, but rather innocent people “seeking a better life.”
Sánchez spoke about several subjects with the public broadcaster RTVE — marking his first television interview since the late July mass migrant invasion of the Spanish North African exclave by tens of thousands of migrants.
On the subject of the invasion of Ceuta, the socialist leader referred to recent statements issued by the leader of the center-right People’s Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who affirmed this week he would have invoked Article 8 of the Spanish constitution to deploy the nation’s Armed Forces in response to the invasion and to ensure the territorial sovereignty of Spain.
According to Sánchez, such actions would constitute a “barbarity,” and affirmed that Núñez Feijóo was suggesting to give an “armed response” to the crisis.
“First of all, because we’re not talking about invaders, we’re talking about people who, for the most part, are seeking a better life, opportunities they don’t have on the other side of the border,” Sánchez said.
The socialist Prime Minister published a clip of his statements on social media, affirming once again that “We are not talking about invaders. We are talking about people seeking a better life.”
“If the solution from the Popular Party and Vox is an armed response, we would be facing a greater crisis and a lamentable international image of Spain,” Sánchez wrote.
In the same interview, Sánchez defended the Spanish law enforcement’s response during the invasion and affirmed that it was “more intelligent” to allow the massive amount of migrants into the city so that “90 percent” of them would leave in the following hours or days.
Sánchez claimed that “over 4,500” of the remaining invading migrants have voluntary departed from Ceuta since August 10, affirming that the government is currently screening and relocating migrants so that “where appropriate, they can be returned to Morocco, or so that those who are eligible for asylum can be granted it.”
Socialist Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sanchez has pleaded for understanding of the thousands of illegal migrants who have flooded the outpost of Ceuta in pursuit of a better life and now refuse to leave. (Photo by Adri Salido/Getty Images)
“Therefore, hearing the leader of the opposition [Núñez Feijóo] say that he would be willing — no more and no less — to implement a decision of that magnitude strikes me as extremely serious, and it makes me wonder what situation we would be in today, not only in Morocco but also around the world,” Sánchez said.
“The crisis we would have triggered in Europe if the response had not been the one given, which, in my opinion, was intelligent on the part of the state’s security forces at that time and which I naturally endorse,” he continued.
Per RTVE, Sánchez said that his government must better prepare to deal with “hybrid attacks of this nature” affirmed that Ceuta, alongside with Melilla, must be “prepared for the structural reality, an inequality in income per capita” with neighboring Morocco. The Prime Minister argued that Spain must invest more on infrastructure for “the arriving migrants.”
The leader of the anti-mass-migration Vox party Santiago Abascal condemned Sánchez over his remarks in a social media post.
“He [Sánchez] will steal the money from railway maintenance, from hospitals, and whatever is allocated to education will be for halal menus,” Abascal wrote. “The traitor wants Spaniards to pay for the invasion.”
The prime minister’s interview occurred right as the Spanish government declassified a series of reports on the Ceuta invasion. Sánchez had previously announced the declassification last week when he spoke before Congress and insisted that Morocco was behind the invasion of Ceuta, despite new police reports suggesting otherwise.
Contrary to past assertions from Spanish government officials, the declassified reports confirm that Spanish intelligence and law enforcement agencies had duly warned the government of the then-impending invasion, warning of a “massive” event for late July — which ended up occurring.