Spain’s political right has taken its fight with Pedro Sánchez from parliament into the courts. PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Vox’s Santiago Abascal say they will pursue criminal charges over the government’s handling of the Ceuta migration crisis. Opposition leaders are casting the border incident as both a policy failure and a matter for the judiciary, possibly the Supreme Court.
They argue that Sánchez and his ministers bear legal as well as political responsibility for what the right calls an attack on Spain’s territorial integrity. Speaking to Sánchez in Congress, Feijóo warned that the consequences would be felt "before the courts and at the ballot box." Vox has gone further, demanding that parliament begin proceedings to try Sánchez for treason under Article 102 of the Constitution. A quarter of deputies would have to sign on, and a majority would need to approve the process. The right lacks those numbers.
On September 3, 2026, Sánchez told Congress that the government had no evidence Morocco planned or organized the mass crossing into Ceuta. He insisted Spain had 'nothing to hide' in the matter.
Legal steps are already underway. The PP has joined the preliminary investigation opened by Judge María Tardó at the Audiencia Nacional into the mass border crossing in late July. The case remains in its early stages and has not been fully opened, but Feijóo predicts it could reach the Supreme Court if a government minister with parliamentary immunity is implicated. The PP’s scrutiny extends beyond Sánchez: Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska is also under examination. PP sources say he has started documenting all communications related to the incident in case he needs a legal defense.
Vox is pressing the PP to back a constitutional procedure that would allow Sánchez to face trial for treason. Abascal has accused the prime minister of betraying Spain and its citizens, including members of his own party. He also claims Sánchez has tried to shift blame for the border breach onto police officers. The PP, but, has dismissed the proposal as political theater, saying the numbers are not there to force such a debate in parliament. PP spokesman Borja Sémper called Vox’s proposal "fireworks."
Despite their different approaches, both parties agree that political explanations alone will not settle the Ceuta crisis. The ongoing police investigation and court proceedings give the right a way to keep pressure on the government and the issue in the public eye. That fits the opposition’s broader strategy in recent months: they have repeatedly raised the possibility that Sánchez could face indictment in other cases involving alleged corruption linked to his family and the PSOE, though no such charges have been filed.
BBC and Reuters have reported that the Ceuta incident involved an unprecedented influx, with estimates reaching 72,000 migrants during the wave of pressure on the Spanish enclave. Sánchez has stressed that no advance warnings or special notifications came from foreign-policy or international bodies, including European institutions, before the July 30 and 31 crisis.
The legal and political stakes are high. As previously reported, the government’s response to the Ceuta crisis has been marked by confusion over migrant numbers and disputes between ministries. As the right’s legal offensive gains momentum, the crisis has become a test of the government’s ability to recover and the opposition’s willingness to push Spain’s constitutional mechanisms to their limits.
Judicial proceedings have displaced debate, and the opposition shows no sign of backing down despite procedural obstacles and the investigation’s early stage. The PP and Vox are betting that the courts, rather than parliament, will deliver the reckoning they want. For now, they are focused less on immediate legal outcomes, which remain uncertain, than on keeping government responsibility in the spotlight. Legal tools now sit at the center of the latest battle between Spain’s government and its opposition.
