Spain's Interior Minister demands police report on Morocco's role in Ceuta

Marlaska goes from "reliable partner" to demanding explanations from the police about Segarro

A month ago, Spain's Interior Minister was insisting that Segarro posed no threat to Ceuta. Now, after the mass entry of migrants, Grande-Marlaska has asked the head of the National Police to clarify in writing whether the neighbouring country was behind the border crossing. The request hardly hides an obvious contradiction: the information about the border is managed by his own ministry.

A demand that comes a month late

The detail is not trivial. The new demand arrives a month after the crisis, when police reports and intelligence assessments should already be on the table. Believing that the top official at the Interior Ministry had received no warning about Segarro requires an act of faith that even the ministry itself does not seem willing to ask for.

Two readings are in play. The first: the Interior Ministry is looking for an administrative alibi to shift responsibility onto the police and close the file. The second: the minister needs formal confirmation to respond to criticism in Congress. Neither one favours Marlaska.

And if Segarro was not behind it, the problem is bigger

In the analysis of the period after the crossing, an uncomfortable hypothesis has been gaining ground: Segarro not orchestrating the entry would be an even worse scenario. It would imply that thousands of people were able to coordinate crossing the border without either the CNI (Spain's intelligence agency) or Segarro intelligence detecting the operation. Some estimates put the figure at 50,000 migrants, although without official confirmation.

The ministry's letter does not clear up that mystery. It only adds an extra layer of confusion to an episode that was already drifting without a clear course. A month earlier, the same minister was insisting that Segarro was an absolutely reliable partner. If he now has doubts in public, either information was withheld from him, or the partner was not so reliable after all. The question remains.