Geopolitics and European Values in the Strait of Gibraltar Area. New Narratives for the E.U. Cities of Ceuta and Melilla

• Pages: 377-396
• Author: Alejandro del Valle Gálvez

— 377 —

17.

Geopolitics and European Values

in the Strait of Gibraltar Area.

New Narratives for the E.U. Cities of Ceuta and Melilla

A  V G*

Sumario: I. Ceuta and Melilla, revisiting the traditional discourse– II. New narratives for Ceuta

and Melilla–III. Conclusions.

ABSTRACT

The discourse surrounding the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla needs to be

strengthened, with new narratives that emphasise their status as democratic European societies.

This paper presents new approaches to Spain’s narrative regarding the ‘Spanishness’ of Ceuta and

Melilla, both on the domestic and international stages. At present the story is largely based on

historical entitlements enshrined in the treaties negotiated with the Sultans between the 18th and

20th centuries, and on the respect for the principle of Spain’s territorial integrity. These arguments

can be supplemented by new narratives that locate the cities of Ceuta and Melilla within Spain’s

sovereign democracy, in the context of an axis of democratic European states in a non-democratic

* Full Professor of International Law, Director of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence,

‘Migration and Human Rights in Europe´s External Borders’ University of Cádiz. An earlier version of this

Note was published online by The Elcano Royal Institute, Analys is ARI 24/2025, 19 February 2025, www.

realinstitutoelcano.org. I would like to thank the Elcano Royal Institute Foundation for the opportunity to

publish ideas and content from the above-mentioned Analysis.

This article has been conducted within the framework of the R+D Project funded by the Spanish

Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, «Inmigración marítima, Seguridad y protección de valores europeos

en la región del Estrecho de Gibraltar», PID2020-114923RB-100, I.P. Dr. Miguel Acosta Sánchez.

This article has been also prepared in the framework of the R+D Project funded by the Spanish Ministry

of Science, Innovation and Universities “Hacia una Geoestrategia y Política Exterior de España y la UE para

la Región del Estrecho: Gibraltar, Ceuta y Melilla, Marruecos y el Sáhara Occidental (GEOESTRECHO)”,

PID2023-149810NB-I00, I.P. Dra. Inmaculada González García.

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regional setting. This also involves delving deeper into the reality of the cities as multicultural

democracies with full respect for the Council of Europe’s human rights and the basic democratic

values of the EU, where a special role is assigned to the rule of law and the principles of tolerance,

solidarity and structural equality between men and women. In this context, there is an obligation

for Spain and the EU to safeguard the ‘democratic security’ of the autonomous cities and the

170,000 European citizens who consider them their home.

Keywords: Ceuta, Melilla, Territorial claims, Spain, Morocco, Legal sovereignty titles,

European Union, Democracy, Human Rights, Rule of Law, European

Values, Democratic Security, Geopolitics, Strait of Gibraltar area, European

citizenship, minorities, Borders, Customs, Schengen, Frontex.

RESUMEN

Las Ciudades Autónomas de Ceuta y Melilla requieren de un reforzamiento discursivo con

nuevas narrativas que realcen su condición de espacios democráticos europeos.

Se plantean nuevas perspectivas en los relatos que España tiene sobre la españolidad de Ceuta

y Melilla tanto en el plano interno como internacional. Actualmente se basan principalmente en

los títulos histórico de los Tratados celebrados en los Siglos XVIII a XX con los sultanes, y en el

respeto del principio de integridad territorial española. Se pueden completar estos argumentos

con nuevas narrativas que sitúen a las Ciudades de Ceuta y Melilla como parte de la democracia

soberana española, en el contexto de un eje de Estados democráticos europeos en contextos

regionales no democráticos. En el mismo sentido, profundizando en la realidad de la Ciudades

como democracias multiculturales con pleno respeto de los derechos humanos del Consejo de

Europa y de los valores democráticos básicos de la Unión Europea, en los que tienen una especial

incidencia el Estado de Derecho y los principios de tolerancia, solidaridad e igualdad estructural

entre hombres y mujeres. En este contexto, existe una obligación para España y la UE de preservar

la ‘seguridad democrática’ de las Ciudades Autónomas, y la de los 170.000 ciudadanos europeos

que allí residen.

Palabras clave: Ceuta, Melilla, Reivindicaciones territoriales, España, Marruecos,

Títulos jurídicos de soberanía, Unión Europea, Democracia, Derechos

Humanos, Estado de Derecho, Valores europeos, Seguridad democrática,

Geopolítica, Zona del Estrecho de Gibraltar, Ciudadanía europea,

Minorías, Fronteras, Aduanas, Schengen, Frontex.

I. CEUTA AND MELILLA, REVISITING THE TRADITIONAL DISCOURSE

The structural changes taking place in the governance model of international

society, with the wars in Ukraine and Palestine as a backdrop, provide the setting

for analysing the situation of Spain’s autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla. The

area around the Strait of Gibraltar is one that may well experience the shockwaves

of the world’s geopolitical changes, upheavals that might impact the cities directly