The opposition will question four ministers over the Ceuta crisis. Margarita Robles and Fernando Grande-Marlaska face the toughest scrutiny after conflicting accounts of intelligence warnings and a recent parliamentary reprimand.
The Ceuta crisis will take over Wednesday's control session in Congress. The opposition wants answers from the ministers who handled the security and political response. Margarita Robles and Fernando Grande-Marlaska will face the sharpest questioning. Their different accounts of the warnings before the mass entry have turned the session into a test of the government's credibility.
Pedro Sánchez will not be in the chamber. The prime minister is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. There, he has for the first time held Morocco responsible for the arrival of more than 70,000 migrants on 30 and 31 July. José Manuel Albares is also in the United States. Nine other ministers have reported previously scheduled commitments.
Spanish authorities have acknowledged that earlier claims about the crisis being impossible to foresee are no longer entirely clear after the declassified material became public. Robles later conceded that the response could have been better, while Sánchez and the Foreign Ministry maintained that the eventual scale was not understood in advance.
Robles must answer four questions from the PP and Junts. Cuca Gamarra will ask whether she can be proud of her work. Sofía Acedo will question its value. Agustín Conde will press her on whether she will tell the truth. Isidre Gavín i Valls of Junts will ask whether Spain can guarantee an effective response to the security crisis. The PP will also present an urgent interpellation on the Defence Ministry's handling of Ceuta. That could lead to a later motion.
The dispute is about what the Centro Nacional de Inteligencia knew before the entry at the end of July. Robles said the CNI had done its job by passing information to the security forces and the Government Delegation. Marlaska said no report had predicted an operation on the scale that followed.
Declassified documents later showed that the CNI reported a social media call on 29 July for an assault by land and sea. The information went to the Government Delegation and the Guardia Civil. The centre said it did not give officials enough information to judge the scale or nature of what happened the next day. Robles later admitted that the response could have been better. She is due to appear before the official secrets committee in October. The appearance is meant to stop the opposition from securing a hearing for CNI director Esperanza Casteleiro or other senior officials.
According to reports citing the Congress agenda and parliamentary leadership, Robles is scheduled to appear before the official secrets committee on 6 October to explain the government’s handling of Ceuta. The closed parliamentary process is separate from the public questioning in the chamber, and no date has been set for a comparable appearance by CNI director Esperanza Casteleiro.
Marlaska will return to the chamber about a week after Congress approved a reprimand against him over the crisis and asked Sánchez to dismiss him. After visiting Ceuta again on Monday, he said Morocco was cooperating exceptionally to help with returns. Miguel Tellado will ask whether the city is safe. Ana Belén Vázquez will question the border policy's effectiveness. Alberto Catalán of UPN will ask the minister directly why he does not resign.
Ángel Víctor Torres will also have to defend the government's coordination. He became single commander after the city was placed under a situation of interest for national security. The PP will question his role and the government's readiness to deal with Ceuta's problems. Vox will challenge the measures that were adopted. Torres has recently urged PP-led regions to accept part of the nearly 3,000 migrant minors.
Félix Bolaños will face questions from the PP and Vox about the limits of the government's conduct. Ana Redondo will face a separate PP challenge over whether women in Ceuta receive equal protection. During her visit on 7 September, the equality minister called for temporary safe spaces for migrants, especially women and girls. The PP has instead demanded guarantees for Ceuta's women. It had already questioned whether they were safe in the city.
The pressure around the session follows a public clash over Sánchez's relationship with Ceuta's leadership, described in an earlier report. The new debate carries more weight because it puts operational responsibility, intelligence warnings, border policy and the distribution of minors into one parliamentary fight.
The government is defending several fronts at once. Robles must explain the CNI's warning. Marlaska must answer after his reprimand. Torres must justify the command structure. Redondo must address the protection issue raised by the opposition. The documents confirm that information existed before the entry, but they did not establish its eventual scale. That distinction may limit the government's exposure over prediction. It still leaves the opposition with a case about preparation and accountability.
Sánchez is absent, and four ministers are in the spotlight. The session will not settle the crisis. It will show whether the government can offer one clear account of what happened in Ceuta.
