EU diplomats say migration has returned to the top of the Brussels agenda after the summer break. The turning point was the crisis in Ceuta. In late July, tens of thousands of people crossed from Morocco into the Spanish enclave over a single weekend. More and more voices now say openly that this was not a spontaneous event, but migration being used as a political weapon.

“Migration is very much back on the agenda,” a senior EU diplomat told journalists at the start of the Brussels political season, Euronews reported. The remark sums up the mood in the EU capital. In early summer the agenda was dominated by the energy crisis, the tariff war and the situation in Ukraine. By September, protecting the EU’s external borders had moved back to the front.

One weekend, tens of thousands over the fence

The crisis broke out on 30 and 31 July. Ceuta belongs to Spain but sits on the northern coast of Africa, with around 83,000 residents. Depending on the source, between 60,000 and 80,000 people entered the city illegally from Morocco. They came over the border fence and swam around the Tarajal breakwater. Local media reported that at least 67 people died trying to swim across. Madrid deployed the army, and in the first days the Spanish Interior Ministry sent tens of thousands of people back to Morocco.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited Ceuta and condemned the crossings as “a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity” that “deserve our strongest condemnation.” The Spanish government openly called the events an “attack” on its sovereignty.

Leaked reports: did Moroccan police help?

Ceuta’s leader, Juan Jesús Vivas, held talks with EU leaders in Brussels on 8 September. He asked for four things:

• a permanent Frontex presence in the city,
• support from the EU Asylum Agency,
• dedicated EU funding for border protection,
• a firmer EU stance towards Morocco.

The last demand is based on leaked Spanish police reports. According to these reports, Moroccan police officers helped orchestrate the mass crossing.

Former Spanish foreign minister Arancha González Laya went further. She called the events a “hybrid attack” in which migration was used as a weapon against Spain, and through Spain, against the European Union.

A familiar scenario

This is not a new phenomenon for Central Europe. In 2021, the Belarusian regime pushed migrants towards the Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian borders to put pressure on the EU. Brussels acknowledged back then that migration was being used as a hybrid weapon. The question now is whether it will apply the same standard when the pressure comes from Morocco, an important economic and security partner.

A test for the Migration Pact

The Ceuta situation is especially sensitive because the EU’s Pact on Migration and Asylum starts to apply this year. The new system’s first real test may therefore be a crisis in which a third country could have deliberately been behind a mass arrival. Member states and Brussels will have to decide whether solidarity means distributing migrants, or actually protecting the external border together.

Ursula von der Leyen delivers her State of the Union address to the European Parliament next week. Diplomats say migration will certainly feature in it.