On the question of commercial customs between Morocco and the two enclaves of Sebta and Melilla, it would seem that‘a solution is becoming clear. Rabat should allowentry of goods from these two citiesbut under conditions.
The local press in the occupied city of Melilla indicated that the coming weeks should see a resumption of trade with Morocco, but on new terms.
Morocco had already announced and indicated, there will be no going back, and there will no longer be the phenomenon of “mule women” who took enormous quantities of contraband goods on their backs on several kilometers.
Estimates from the Spanish government, dating from 2017, put the number of people carrying out these smuggling round trips in Sebta at 12,000 and 15,000 and between 3,000 and 5,000 in Melilla.
Spain, for its part, had spoken of conditions that would respect human rights, referring to these women who traveled back and forth between the two territories. And while the two countries agreed in the joint declaration of April 2022 to work on the reopening or establishment of commercial customs, technical tests showed that there were gaps, hence the delay in implementation.
Two years later, the outlines of a new system seem to be emerging, and they will not please the traders of the two presidents who dumped tons of products per year to Morocco without paying taxes accumulating indecent profits on the backs of women in a precarious situation.
Spanish reports, in the absence of clearly established figures, concluded that the majority of imports from the two presidents were intended to be exported to Morocco, indicating that most of the economy of these two territories was based on this resale. via the unofficial circuit. We are talking about exports of between 400 and 700 million euros to Morocco, or even up to 150 million euros according to certain sources.
In 2018, the president of the Melilla Business Platform, Enrique Alcoba, explained to El Mundo that 70% of goods entering the city were destined for smuggling with Morocco, emphasizing that smuggling was the engine of the economy of the president.
-He indicated that in 2017, almost 540 million euros of goods were sent to Morocco from Melilla. The share of “legal” exports was 47 million euros and concerned fruits, dried vegetables and cereals for 15 million euros and electronic equipment for the rest.
The trade balance was not in favor of Morocco since the city’s imports from Morocco represented only 1% of its total imports, according to the same source. The majority of its imports came from Spain and largely consisted of food, drinks and tobacco intended for smuggling.
This time, the media El Faro de Melilla estimated that “Morocco has definitely won the commercial customs battle”, by allowing goods produced locally in the two cities to transit.
In addition, Spanish sources indicated that Morocco would now choose the products that would enter its soil according to criteria that have not yet been disclosed. These will only be the products they need, putting an end to unordered and all-out spills of products of all kinds.
Citing business sources, the Melilla media reported that the leader of the local government, Sabrina Moh, had selectively telephoned certain businessmen in the city in recent weeks to announce that trade with Morocco will be permitted soon.
As a reminder, in February 2023, the issue of commercial customs was discussed during the high-level meeting between Morocco and Spain organized in Rabat. Morocco closed the Beni Nsar customs office in early August 2018 and suspended smuggling with the two presidents.
