Spanish media outlets and commentators expressed shock Monday — and royalists anger — after Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez appeared to attack King Felipe over the Ceuta migrant crisis.
Government opponents have been questioning the prime minister’s response to thousands of migrants flooding into Ceuta, one of Spain’s enclaves in North Africa.
During an interview, Sánchez pointed to the King not having visited Ceuta or Melilla, another Spanish city in North Africa. The comments were puzzling because royal visits to the enclaves are sensitive matters. They anger Morocco’s king and that’s something the prime minister is trying not to do as a way of securing collaboration in preventing more crossings.
Also, royal visits are coordinated with the government, and there have been questions as to whether it’s the Royal Household or Sánchez who has blocked or delayed a trip by King Felipe.
The Spanish prime minister and the King met for three hours after the interview aired, media outlets reported, in what was said to be a routine gathering.
The Spanish Royal Household did not post pictures of this week’s meeting between King Felipe and Sánchez. His Majesty earlier this summer met with Ceuta’s president at Marivent Palace, also in Mallorca, in an effort to show his concern about the migrant crisis.
Members of the Spanish Royal Family have traditionally spent some time in Mallorca during the summer. They stay at Marivent Palace and conduct protocolary business at Almudaina.
LOS BORBONES 