Felipe VI Decries Ceuta Swim Arrivals and Says State Must Ensure Citizens' Safety King Felipe VI Has Spoken Out Two Days'

Felipe VI decries Ceuta swim arrivals and says state must ensure citizens' safety King Felipe VI has spoken out two days after scores of swimmers began crossing into Ceuta, expressing his “great concern and indignation” over what he called “grave events” and insisting that the State “must ensure the safety of citizens” and take steps to prevent a repeat. In a written statement released through Zarzuela’s communications office, the King said he had stayed in contact throughout the crisis with the presidents of Ceuta and Melilla, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to whom he conveyed “words of encouragement and firmness. The monarchy’s message underlined Felipe VI’s belief that “all measures should be adopted that, in a united, clear and decisive way, transmit to the populations of Ceuta and Melilla the support and affection of the rest of Spain.

It also reminded the government that the State must guarantee the security of those citizens and ensure such incidents do not happen again. The King has been following the situation from Palma, where the official summer residence of the Head of State is located, and has analysed the evolving events with his full team. The statement responds to his constitutional role as “symbol of unity and permanence, yet his relationship with Ceuta and Melilla remains delicate, as the government is reluctant to anger Morocco.

Notably, the two autonomous cities are the only Spanish territories Felipe VI has not visited during his reign, following the same pattern as his father, Juan Carlos I, who only travelled there after abdicating. The King has had no contact with Morocco’s King Mohamed VI during the episode.”””