The dispute over unaccompanied minors in Ceuta has shifted from a closed-door meeting to an open clash between Madrid and the Basque Government. The central government says it asked Euskadi and the three provincial councils to make an additional effort. Basque officials say the meeting was for exchanging information, and that no files on transferring minors were discussed.
The immediate problem is space. Reports put the number of minors in Ceuta's care at about 2,300. Other recent estimates distinguish roughly 2,048-2,140 registered minors from a wider population of 2,500-3,000 children and teenagers. Some remain outside the protection system. Basque reception services are already over their stated capacity.
The disagreement has practical consequences. Sira Rego has said solidarity with Ceuta means moving children and teenagers to mainland Spain, because there is no other route. She also said Ceuta must decide how it wants to manage the situation, while the Government of Spain remains ready to cooperate. Euronews and La Vanguardia reported that Rego expects most of the minors who arrived after the July border breach to stay in Spain rather than return to Morocco.
Nerea Melgosa described Tuesday afternoon's meeting in Madrid as part of regular contacts between the administrations. She said it involved an exchange of information, not negotiations over individual cases involving minors in Ceuta. Melgosa also said the emergency exposed a lack of planning in migration policy. Euskadi's reception services, she stressed, are already full.
The Basque position rests on a clear figure: Euskadi is caring for 1,000 minors, while its reception system has room for 600. Melgosa said the Ministry of Youth and Childhood knows about the pressure. She reiterated that the Basque Country has consistently supported a solidarity-based approach to migration. The numbers show a system well above its stated capacity and raise the question of whether other regions can take new arrivals without additional planning and resources.
Madrid's message was more direct. Spain has a mandatory solidarity-based redistribution mechanism for unaccompanied minors during a migration emergency. Recent legal and media coverage says the mechanism is under consideration as a way to move children out of Ceuta, although the meeting with Euskadi produced no agreed number of places.
Marisol Garmendia said the central government values Euskadi's reception policy and expects Basque institutions to respond in the same spirit of solidarity they have shown before. She said the ministry had asked the Basque Government and the provincial councils to make an effort because protecting children in Ceuta is both a legal and moral duty for every public administration that forms part of the Spanish state. She added that other autonomous communities would receive the same request.
Garmendia said Tuesday's meeting neither agreed on nor discussed a number of places. She still expects an exceptional response because she considers the situation exceptional. The political appeal remains, along with the practical question: where can more children stay when the Basque system is already carrying more than its stated capacity?
The figures from Ceuta explain why Madrid is pressing for transfers to the mainland. Fifty-four minors have already been reunited with their families on the peninsula, and more than 300 family reunification files are open. Rego said the first decisions in some cases were expected in the coming days. The most urgent group includes around 500 girls, some under 13.
The dispute follows wider scrutiny of Ceuta's handling of the crisis. A recent Ceuta report examined the government's account of the response and the scrutiny facing ministers. This disagreement is narrower but easier to measure: Madrid is asking for more reception capacity, while the Basque side says its existing network is already full.
Euskadi has not rejected solidarity, but no transfer agreement has been reached. The system is caught between a legal and moral duty to protect children and a shortage of places. Until specific capacity matches those realities, rather than general appeals, Madrid's mainland plan remains a request. The Basque response is constrained by resources.
