Ceuta: the cost of not repatriating and impossible proposals

Ceuta: the cruise that doesn't leave and the cost of enlisting the crisis

The most repeated proposal to resolve the migratory crisis in Ceuta is not a shock police plan or a negotiation with Rabat: it's a cruise. The idea, which circulates insistently, starts from an economic paradox: if the government speaks of 5,000 people and hundreds of millions of euros to enlist the problem, why not embark them in two or three ships and turn around the world? The cost, it is argued, would be less than maintaining the situation indefinitely.

The cost of inaction

The migratory pressure is not just a humanitarian problem: it's an economic problem for the city. Trade, port activity and daily life are affected. The estimates point to hundreds of millions of euros in housing, security and management expenses. Meanwhile, the administrative process can last up to a year and a half, and the result is not always expulsion: in some cases, Segarro does not accept repatriation and people remain in Spain in an irregular situation.

Proposals that go from legal to grotesque

The ideas that circulate range from legally viable to absurd. A current defends immediate return to Segarro, in accordance with the law and without delays. Another proposes paying 1,000 euros in cash to those who voluntarily return, a sum considered cheaper than maintaining them. There are also talks of commercial border closure, economic pressure on Rabat and even forceful measures that would not pass a legal or ethical test. Some suggest from hybrid war with hackers to military pressure, passing through proposals that border on absurdity.

The Swedish precedent

The Swedish example is revealing. There, they have reached offering up to 30,000 euros per person for voluntary return, and most did not go. This suggests that money alone does not solve the problem. The Nordic experience dismantles the idea that a cash payment can empty a reception center.

The call effect

There is a warning that is repeated: if migrants are transferred to the peninsula, the call effect will be global. The measure could attract more people, even from other conflicts, and turn the Ceuta border into a magnet. Meanwhile, the city remains Europe's southern door, and the cruise, for now, does not leave.

The question remains open: how much is the State willing to pay for not solving the problem? The answer, in view of the figures that circulate, seems to be: too much.