Ceuta y Melilla en la nueva relación de Vecindad y de Cooperación transfronteriza con Marruecos iniciada en 2022

Abstract

After a reference to the international legal framework for cross-border cooperation between (regional and local) territorial entities in the Council of Europe (Spain - France, Portugal, and United Kingdom around Gibraltar), we will analyze how cross-border co-operation carried out by Spanish/Moroccan territorial entities (specifically, between Ceuta and Melilla and the provinces of Tetouan and Nador, respectively), pose a certain degree of difficulty, as it is an issue included in the different frameworks of existing relations between the European Union (EU) and Morocco. These are: the EU Regional/Cohesion Policy through the INTERREG III A Spain-Morocco programme (since 1994) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); The Barcelona Process or Euro-Mediterranean Partnership - Union for the Mediterranean and its financial instrument, the MEDA Programme; the European Neighbourhood Policy – ENP (2004, revised in 2011 and 2015) and the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument – ENPI (in force since January 1st. 2007)), replaced by the European Neighborhood Instrument (in force since March 16, 2014) for the period 2014-2020 and merged into the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) - Global Europe for the period 2021-2027. We will consider how territorial claims have limited the possibilities of cross-border cooperation between Spain and Morocco within the framework of the ENP, and we will make some proposals for promoting the cross-border cooperation between the Spanish Autonomous Cities and the Moroccan provinces of Tetouan and Nador in the «new stage of the partnership between Spain and Morocco» started at the beginning of 2022.