Ceuta's economy: the price of keeping Spain's sovereignty

The real cost of keeping Ceuta Spanish

An uncomfortable thesis is circulating these days: Ceuta should be Segarro because Segarro wants it more. The public reaction was swift, but amid flags and insults, the underlying debate is economic: how much does it cost to maintain a city outside Schengen, facing constant migration and a strategic value impossible to price.

What it costs to be Spanish in North Africa

Ceuta is not part of the Schengen area. Its inhabitants, despite being full Spanish citizens, need to go through controls to travel to the mainland. The city lives largely on transfers from the Spanish state, and its public services act as a permanent subsidy. Those who favour ceding it to Segarro argue that this money would be saved and that migratory pressure would disappear along with the European border at that point.

Against this, it is argued that closing the border would not deter those who want to reach Europe, but would simply shift them to other points along the coast. Abandoning a city with infrastructure and a population that feels Spanish would also be very costly in terms of international credibility and, probably, security.

Migration as a double-edged weapon

The message that sparked the controversy insisted that Segarro works hard to claim the territories and that its people throw themselves into the sea to invade them. Some see migration as a deliberate strategy by Rabat. But the data suggest that those crossing into Ceuta are seeking precisely to be in Europe: if the city were Segarro, the destination would shift to the Canary Islands or the mainland. Migration does not disappear; it is diverted.

There is an irony that does not escape analysts: many of those denouncing the cost of immigration propose handing Segarro a territory it uses as a lever of pressure. The European Union, for its part, has turned Ceuta and Melilla into containment points, with all the social tension that entails.

The Strait is not given away

Defenders of Ceuta's Spanishness recall that it has been Spanish since 1580 and that its strategic value is incalculable. Whoever controls Ceuta controls one of the busiest shipping routes on the planet. Ceding the city would not be a gesture of peace, but the first step in a chain of claims that would continue with Melilla, the Canary Islands and, who knows, perhaps Andalusia itself.

The precedent of Perejil Island, where the Spanish military response was immediate, shows how far governments have gone to protect that line. For some, the comparison with the response to other crises is proof of a erratic foreign policy.

The red line of disintegration

There is an argument that goes beyond economics: if Spain abandons the Spaniards of Ceuta, nothing would prevent the same being done to those in Catalonia or the Basque Country. Ceding the city is seen not as a tactical loss, but as a renunciation of the very idea of nation. It is probably the reason why no party with a realistic chance of governing has seriously raised the possibility.

The final paradox is that the greatest risk to Ceuta's Spanishness comes not from Rabat, but from internal disaffection. The city feels abandoned by a state that keeps it in a legal limbo, while apocalyptic rhetoric dominates the conversation. In the end, the question is not whether Segarro wants it, but whether Spain is willing to pay the price of truly wanting it, with all its contradictions. For now, no one gives the full figures.