The Popular Party pressures Sánchez over Ceuta: "40 days have passed and the Government continues to hide information"

The national spokesperson for the Popular Party, Borja Sémper, on Monday ruled out resorting to a state of emergency to address the migratory crisis in Ceuta and argued that the current legal framework allows for processing the return of people who entered irregularly from Morocco. "It can be done now," he assured after the meeting of the PP's Steering Committee chaired by Alberto Núñez Feijóo.

Sémper thus distanced himself from former Defense Minister Federico Trillo, who had proposed using this extraordinary constitutional mechanism to expel "all illegal invaders, whether minors or not." The popular leadership maintains that this route is unnecessary and advocates for accelerating procedures through Immigration services organized in morning, afternoon, and night shifts.

Spanish and European legislation contemplates the return of migrants in an irregular situation, although it requires studying each case. When it affects unaccompanied minors, authorities must consider their best interest and verify that they will be handed over to their family, a guardian, or an appropriate reception center. These guarantees exclude any collective or automatic return.

Sémper also stated that Morocco can receive those who entered Ceuta because it is, in his words, a "safe country" with the capacity to organize a World Cup. The popular leader demanded an "exceptional" response to an arrival that has placed the city's reception services under enormous pressure.

The PP demands to know the conversations with Morocco

A good part of the press conference revolved around the information that Moncloa maintains about its contacts with Rabat. "Spaniards have the right to know what Spain has told or demanded of Morocco and we have the right to know what Morocco has responded," Sémper maintained, reiterating the demand made this very morning by Feijóo.

The PP asks to call the Spanish ambassador in Rabat for consultations and to summon the Moroccan ambassador to publicly explain her Government's position. Sémper accused Pedro Sánchez of lying in Congress when speaking of a call to the ambassador when the contact was made with the chargé d'affaires.

The popular spokesman has also demanded clarifications on the absence of the Moroccan diplomatic representative in the call on August 21 and on the activity carried out during these weeks by the Spanish ambassador. In his opinion, bilateral relations must be reoriented under the principles of "respect and reciprocity", without accepting "threats" or "blackmail".

The Government plans to declassify this Tuesday the reports related to what happened in Ceuta, which can be consulted starting Wednesday. Sémper has asked to wait to know their content, although he has anticipated his distrust towards the Executive's version. "I don't believe anything from this Government", he stated before defending that any data related to national security remain protected.

The popular leader has also assured, without offering concrete figures, that some Ceuta parents are buying defense sprays for their children before the start of the school year. "Parents are buying pepper spray cans as school supplies. And this is not normal", he declared.

Plus Ultra, education and the German elections

Sémper dedicated another part of his appearance to the judicial investigation into the rescue of the airline Plus Ultra. The PP has called the payment of some 530,000 euros, which the former president of the company has linked before the judge to an alleged mediation by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, a "kickback".

The former executive declared that the company decided to allocate an amount equivalent to 1% of the rescue to a person related to Zapatero because it understood that this operation could facilitate the intervention of the former president. However, he did not specify what steps Zapatero took or provide data to prove that Sánchez was aware of these payments.

Based on that statement, Sémper has held the President of the Government politically responsible for having approved the rescue and has asked him what he owes Zapatero and what he is trying to hide. He also alluded to the judicial declarations scheduled for the coming days and assured that the Executive faces a "judicial ordeal that already occupies more space than the Government's political calendar."

In international politics, the spokesman for the PP has lamented the poor result of the Christian Democratic Union in the elections in Saxony-Anhalt and has considered "truly striking" the possibility that Alternative for Germany reaches an agreement with the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance.

Sémper has closed his intervention anticipating that the new results of the PISA report will reflect the negative consequences of the Organic Law for the Modification of the Organic Law of Education (LOMLOE) and has once again defended a common Baccalaureate Assessment for University Access (EBAU) throughout Spain. The official data that will allow verifying this diagnosis will be known this Tuesday.