The Government pledges to explore the options provided by the European framework to boost local development in Ceuta after the pandemic

The State Secretary for the European Union, Juan González-Barba, and the State Secretary for Territorial Policy and Public Function, Víctor Francos, have made a joint trip to the Autonomous City of Ceuta, in which they stressed the Spanish Government's commitment to the city and explored the options provided by the European framework to boost local development after the pandemic.

The state secretaries met with the President of Ceuta, Juan Vivas, to get to know at first hand the reality of the city, address the situation in the wake of the May crisis and analysed the prospects for the future. Juan González-Bara and Victor Francos expressed to Juan Vivas the Spanish Government's willingness to work together with the highest level of institutional loyalty to ensure that the General State Administration would provide the autonomous city of Ceuta with preferential treatment and ensure a wide-ranging role for it in European policies.

Both state secretaries highlighted the excellent level of cooperation between the Government of Spain and Ceuta, which they hope to maintain. The Spanish Government has recognised that the recent crisis has put additional pressure on the provision of public services and it has undertaken to strengthen the role of central government in the autonomous city of Ceuta.

The Government has also worked within the possibilities offered by the European context to provide short-term financial mitigation of the consequences of the May crisis and in the future to deal with the specific characteristics of the autonomous city.

Juan González-Barba stressed to his hosts the particular importance that the autonomous cities should participate in Spain's lines of action before the EU, particularly at a time such as this, when it is essential to provide a joint response by everyone to the pandemic and speed up economic recovery. Cooperation between the different administrative levels, from European to local, including both national and regional, is key for managing mobility, vaccination and the implementation of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.

Víctor Francos stressed the involvement of the Ministry for Territorial Policy and Public Function in boosting the coordinated actions by the General State Administration in the city, and in particular enhancing consultation, which is already working at the highest ministerial level to implement this important task.

The state secretaries then met with the social stakeholders in Ceuta at the headquarters of the Government Delegation to gather the opinions of the trade unions and business community.

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