While the country’s isolation from the West has been irksome for some members of the political, bureaucratic and business elite, Moscow has offset this partially with its growing ties with Asia through setups like the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and other emerging powers through BRICS and BRICS-plus. In an ideal world, Russia would enjoy th

Spain, but also the EU, has a special geopolitical responsibility to ensure that the 170,000 citizens of these Straits-area territories benefit from the prevailing European space of democratic security, which the EU and the Council of Europe constitute on European soil. It is also in the interests of the EU to strengthen its involvement in the area

It is in Spain’s interest when facing Morocco to bolster this democratic connection between the European cities flanking the Strait. The link to the Council of Europe and the EU, which is  in all three cities, provides a major argument for the case that the three cities form part of the same European democratic sphere. That said, their highly si

This opening of customs posts has probably not been accompanied by a strategic reflection on the future economic model of the cities or the cross-border trading relationship with Morocco and the EU. Here it is worth pointing out some of the factors that are involved in this question: the full integration of Ceuta and Melilla into the European Custo

The suggestion is therefore that of offering new democratic perspectives in Spain’s accounts of Ceuta and Melilla, both on the domestic and international stages. Currently they are mainly based on the legal entitlements drawn from the treaties negotiated with the Sultans in the 18th-20th centuries and with regard to the principle of Spain’s ter