Spanish lawmakers from Sumar and Vox have tabled parliamentary motions demanding a review of Morocco’s World Cup 2030 co-hosting role. The move follows a surge of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta last week.
The motions landed in the Congress of Deputies days after Spanish authorities said around 72,000 people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta on 30 and 31 July. It was one of the largest single incidents at the border in years. Moroccan officials put the figure closer to 40,000.
More than 80 people died attempting the crossing, according to Spanish authorities cited by the European Conservative. Most drowned near the breakwater that separates the two territories.
Sumar, the junior coalition partner in Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government, tabled its motion on Wednesday. It calls on Spain’s sporting authorities to reconsider Morocco’s World Cup 2030 co-hosting role alongside Portugal, on human rights grounds, ABC News reported.
Nahuel González, the Sumar lawmaker who authored the text, told Spanish broadcaster TVE that the Moroccan monarchy does not respect human rights. He said Rabat uses migrants to exert political pressure on Madrid.
Vox, Spain’s right opposition party, filed a separate motion the same week. It urges the government to press FIFA to review Morocco’s World Cup 2030 co-hosting role, the European Conservative reported. The party argued that the Ceuta events had destroyed the trust required for a joint bid.
In its submission, Vox accused Rabat of manipulating migration flows. It described Morocco as an unreliable partner, both for staging a tournament of such magnitude and for wider bilateral cooperation, according to Yabiladi.
Podemos joined the push against Morocco’s World Cup 2030 co-hosting this week too. Party spokesman Pablo Fernández called on 5 August for Morocco to be expelled from the tournament entirely, Brussels Signal reported. He argued that Spain and Portugal should stage the competition alone.
Despite the political noise, none of the motions carry legal force. FIFA confirmed Morocco, Spain and Portugal as co-hosts of the 2030 tournament back in 2023. Neither Sumar nor Vox commands enough seats in the 350 member parliament to force a change to Morocco’s World Cup 2030 co-hosting role on its own.
The diplomatic fallout has been sharper over Ceuta’s unaccompanied minors. Local authorities say roughly 1,100 children remain in the enclave. Some arrived during last week’s crossing, while others were already there before the crisis began, according to Reuters reporting carried by US News.
Many of the children are sleeping in makeshift warehouse accommodation or on the streets. Ceuta’s reception centres were built to house fewer than 100 minors and are struggling to cope, InfoMigrants reported, citing Ceuta’s local government head Juan Jesús Vivas.
Madrid has approved 25 million euros in emergency funding to support the children’s care and their eventual transfer to the mainland. Spain’s regions remain divided over how the burden should be shared. The Popular Party and Vox, who jointly govern four regions, have resisted the redistribution rules, the National reported.
Morocco has signalled it is willing to help resolve the crisis. State news agency MAP reported on Thursday that King Mohammed VI had instructed the interior and foreign ministries to work towards identifying unaccompanied minors. The aim is to return them home, a diplomatic source said.
Moroccan officials insist that delays in the repatriation process stem from administrative and legal hurdles rather than a lack of cooperation. They rejected suggestions that Rabat has resisted the returns, MAP added.
Ties between Madrid and Rabat had improved after Spain shifted its position on Western Sahara, backing Morocco’s autonomy plan for the disputed territory. But the Ceuta crisis has reopened long standing friction over migration and territory.
The row has now moved beyond migration policy and into the debate over Morocco’s World Cup 2030 co-hosting. Spanish political parties are using the Ceuta crisis to question whether Morocco remains a suitable partner for one of football’s biggest events, adding a sporting dimension to an already sensitive dispute over migration and bilateral relations.
Despite the criticism, there is little sign of any immediate impact on tournament preparations. FIFA has given no indication that Morocco’s World Cup 2030 co-hosting status is under review, and the co-hosting arrangement agreed between Morocco, Spain and Portugal remains unchanged.
