Sánchez discusses with Felipe VI his possible visit to Ceuta and Melilla after defending that "it will be done"

Pedro Sánchez and Felipe VI held a new meeting this Monday at the Zarzuela Palace, an encounter that comes just hours after the President of the Government publicly defended that there are "sufficient arguments and reasons" for the Head of State to visit Ceuta and Melilla.

The meeting, according to sources from Moncloa, had been scheduled since before the summer and is part of the usual dispatches held by the president and the monarch. The Government thus downplayed the extraordinary nature of the meeting and stated that it took place "with usual normality".

The temporal coincidence occurs after Sánchez assured in the morning that the King's visit to the autonomous cities "will happen", although he avoided specifying a date. The president explained that it will be necessary for the Government and the Royal Household to coordinate the trip and for the appropriate circumstances to be met to carry it out.

"That is what I have shared with the Head of State and that is what will be done," Sánchez affirmed when asked about this issue. The president did not clarify whether Felipe VI had conveyed to him during their conversations his intention to travel to Ceuta and Melilla.

The possibility of a visit by the monarch has gained special relevance after the migratory crisis recorded in Ceuta at the end of July. Felipe VI has not visited either of the two autonomous cities since his accession to the throne in 2014, while he did visit Ceuta in 2007, when he was still Prince of Asturias.

A meeting scheduled before the summer

Moncloa has insisted that this Monday's meeting was not convened as a consequence of Sánchez's statements about Ceuta and Melilla. It is, as they explained, one of the periodic meetings they hold, and its date had been set previously.

The last public meeting between the president and the King took place on July 29 at the Almudaina Palace, in Mallorca, on the occasion of the traditional meeting prior to the summer period. Although this meeting is the one that usually transcends publicly, Sánchez and Felipe VI maintain contacts with a certain frequency to address issues related to national current affairs and institutional functioning.

The dispatches between the head of the Executive and the monarch do not follow a closed calendar and can be held more frequently when circumstances require it. On this occasion, Moncloa has not reported on the specific matters addressed during the meeting.