Ceuta hit the headlines over the weekend as an estimated 69,500 people had moved from Morocco into the Spanish territory. Located in Morocco, Ceuta, normally has a population of only 84,000. By the end of today, most of the new arrivals had gone back. Meanwhile, two weeks earlier, the UK and the EU had signed a new treaty on Gibraltar.
The events unfolding in Morocco triggered British populist politicians to post about an imaginary invasion to the UK (see some screen grabs below).
Although travellers can cross from Morocco into Ceuta without a Schengen visa, entry into Ceuta does not grant entry into mainland Spain or the rest of Schengen. Ceuta is an autonomous Spanish city. Moving from Ceuta to mainland Spain involves border controls with passport/ID checks.
Despite the overwhelming numbers coming in, the risk of an ‘invasion’ to the UK (or Italy) from the influx to Ceuta was zero. By 3 August, over 90% had returned or had been returned to Morocco, with only between 3,000 and 5,000 remaining (Reuters). Based on the over-reactions in the posts below, British populist politicians do not appear to have the cool, calm heads needed to deal with a real crisis.
Away from the headlines but nearby, on 15 July 2026, the UK and the EU signed the post-Brexit treaty on Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory in the EU. The treaty took four years to negotiate involving the UK, Spain, Gibraltar and the EU. For details, please see a new section in Brexit FactBase. The new treaty has applied provisionally from 16 July.
To complement the new material on Gibraltar, there is also a new section about the impact of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement on the Crown Dependencies (Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man).
