Feijóo's demands on Friday

Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the Partido Popular, asked Pedro Sánchez on Friday, 16 October, to deploy the navy in Ceuta, summon Morocco's ambassador and recall Spain's ambassador in Rabat for consultations. In a post on X he described several Moroccan incursions into Spanish waters as repeated aggression rather than isolated events, and he called for a firm response. He also asked Moroccan authorities to give explanations at the highest level and told the government to inform Spaniards immediately about what is happening. Speaking in Toledo the same day at an event organised by the Asociación de Familias y Mujeres del Medio Rural (Afammer) for Rural Women's Day, he said that continuing challenges to national sovereignty cannot be hidden, treated as minor episodes or met with silence. He called for a response in these terms:

“When a state does not uphold good neighbourly relations, when there is no cooperation, when there is disloyalty, there must be a calm and firm response from Spain.”

The reported patrol boat

ABC reported on Friday, citing police sources, that a Moroccan patrol boat entered Ceuta's waters on Thursday, 15 October, a day after the royal visit to Ceuta and Melilla ended. According to that report, the vessel stayed for seven hours until a Guardia Civil patrol boat was sent to the area. Patxi López, the PSOE spokesman in Congress, rejected reports of new maneuvers by Moroccan military vessels in Spanish waters in recent days, telling reporters before a session of the Diputación Permanente:

“I have no knowledge of anything about those ships they are talking about.”

Moncloa sources called the report false and said that no incidents had occurred after 30 and 31 July. The Interior Ministry said the Guardia Civil had no record of the event, that no member had reported it through the chain of command, and that its permanent maritime surveillance had detected neither the vessel described nor a stay of hours in Spanish waters. Moncloa also described coordination between the Spanish and Moroccan navies and administrations as good and constant.

The July incursions and the migrant surge

Between 30 and 31 July, at least one frigate and several patrol boats of the Royal Moroccan Navy sailed without permission in Spanish sovereign waters, according to EL PAÍS, at the same time as a mass entry of migrants into Ceuta. Europa Press puts the number of people who entered the city irregularly at about 80,000, while POLITICO gives more than 70,000. Those naval incursions continued into the first days of August and, according to EL PAÍS, stopped only after Spanish navy ships deployed in those waters and the Defence Ministry conducted high-level contacts. Europa Press notes that the government had not disclosed the episode. A European Commission spokesperson told EFE on Wednesday that it was up to the Spanish and Moroccan authorities to clarify the facts, POLITICO reports.

Political backdrop

POLITICO reports that Sánchez has announced snap elections for 29 November, and that Feijóo is bidding to replace him. Miguel Tellado, the PP's secretary general, asked whether the boat movements were isolated events, as the government spokesperson had said, ordinary patrols, as the government delegate had suggested, or a threat to national security, as Bolaños had said. Feijóo closed his X message with a slogan:

“España no se vende. España se defiende”

King Felipe VI, who visited Ceuta and Melilla in October 2026, said the two cities are an inalienable part of Spain, according to POLITICO. A POLITICO poll found that 58% of respondents think an armed conflict between Madrid and Rabat is likely within the next decade. On 15 October the European People's Party criticised the Spanish government over the Ceuta crisis in the closing statement of its Brussels summit, POLITICO's Madrid Playbook reported.