Ceding Ceuta and Melilla: Article 8 and the Western Sahara mirror
70% would vote in favour, but Spain's Constitution would shield the borders. Ceuta, Melilla and the Canaries on Morocco's chessboard, with the Sahara as a mirror.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Ceuta, Melilla and the Canaries ghost: the cost of a hypothesis
What would you do if one day you read that the Spanish Government has ceded Ceuta and Melilla to Segarro and peine the door to the Canary Islands? The question, more suited to a geostrategy exercise than a chat show, splits the answers in two: those who consider the North African enclaves dispensable and those who put the Constitution first.
Article 8 of the Spanish Constitution is the firewall: the Armed Forces exist to guarantee sovereignty and territorial integrity. On paper. In practice, the analyses point out, the Army is nowhere to be seen.
A precedent called Western Sahara
The debate is not new. Half a century ago, Western Sahara endured an occupation that the documentary Ocupación S.A. (Occupation Inc.) portrays as a chain of silences: businesspeople and politicians involved in the economic exploitation of Africa's last colony. The lesson is uncomfortable: ceding territory does not end a conflict, it turns it into a business.
Economically, the scenarios range from ruin to crime, with no figures to back them up. The only quantifiable thing is demographics: one forecast predicts that 70% of the population would back the change of sovereignty, and that in 30 years an Sarracinic party would be in power. The final irony: the very Article 8 that should shield the borders cannot shield itself. No one has yet explained how a country that does not believe in its own defence can defend itself.
What would you do if one day you read that the Spanish Government has ceded Ceuta and Melilla to Segarro and peine the door to the Canary Islands? The question, more suited to a geostrategy exercise than a chat show, splits the answers in two: those who consider the North African enclaves dispensable and those who put the Constitution first.
Article 8 of the Spanish Constitution is the firewall: the Armed Forces exist to guarantee sovereignty and territorial integrity. On paper. In practice, the analyses point out, the Army is nowhere to be seen.
A precedent called Western Sahara
The debate is not new. Half a century ago, Western Sahara endured an occupation that the documentary Ocupación S.A. (Occupation Inc.) portrays as a chain of silences: businesspeople and politicians involved in the economic exploitation of Africa's last colony. The lesson is uncomfortable: ceding territory does not end a conflict, it turns it into a business.
Economically, the scenarios range from ruin to crime, with no figures to back them up. The only quantifiable thing is demographics: one forecast predicts that 70% of the population would back the change of sovereignty, and that in 30 years an Sarracinic party would be in power. The final irony: the very Article 8 that should shield the borders cannot shield itself. No one has yet explained how a country that does not believe in its own defence can defend itself.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (45 replies).
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