King Felipe VI has broken his silence over the migrant crisis in Ceuta.
The monarch said he is following events with ‘great concern and outrage’ after the deaths of dozens of people during the mass crossings from Morocco this week.
In a statement to be issued by the Royal Household on Saturday, the king said it was essential to send ‘a united, clear and determined message’ of support to the people of Ceuta and Melilla following one of the worst migration crises in recent Spanish history.
‘The State must ensure their security and prevent these events, which have also resulted in the sad and tragic loss of dozens of lives, from happening again,’ the statement reads.
The King’s intervention comes after almost 50,000 people crossed into Ceuta from Morocco in recent days, triggering a major security and humanitarian crisis.
According to the Royal Household, Felipe has been in contact since Thursday with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and opposition leader Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, who travelled to Ceuta on Saturday.
He has also spoken directly with the presidents of Ceuta and Melilla, Juan Jesus Vivas and Juan Jose Imbroda, offering them what palace officials described as ‘words of encouragement and firmness’.
The monarch said it was necessary to adopt ‘all measures’ that demonstrate to the residents of Spain’s two North African enclaves ‘the support and affection of the rest of Spain’.
News of the statement came just hours after Sanchez wrote to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, expressing his concern over the reaction of several European governments to the crisis at what he described as one of the EU’s external borders.
