%0 Journal Article 
%A Valle Gálvez, José Alejandro del
%T New narratives for the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla
%D 2025
%@ 1696-3466
%U http://hdl.handle.net/10498/36679
%X The discourse surrounding the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla needs to be strengthened, with new narratives that emphasise their status as democratic European societies. This paper presents new approaches to Spain’s narrative regarding the ‘Spanishness’ of Ceuta and Melilla, both on the domestic and international stages. At present the story is largely based on historical entitlements enshrined in the treaties negotiated with the Sultans between the 18th and 20th centuries, and on the respect for the principle of Spain’s territorial integrity. These arguments can be supplemented by new narratives that locate the cities of Ceuta and Melilla within Spain’s sovereign democracy, in the context of an axis of democratic European states in a non-democratic regional setting. This also involves delving deeper into the reality of the cities as multicultural democracies with full respect for the Council of Europe’s human rights and the basic democratic values of the EU, where a special role is assigned to the rule of law and the principles of tolerance, solidarity and structural equality between men and women. In this context, there is an obligation for Spain and the EU to safeguard the ‘democratic security’ of the autonomous cities and the 170,000 European citizens who consider them their home

%K Ceuta
%K Melilla
%K Territorial claims
%K Spain
%K Morocco
%K Legal sovereignty titles
%K European Union
%K Democracy
%K Human Rights
%K Rule of Law
%K European Values
%K Democratic Security
%K Geopolitics
%K Strait of Gibraltar area
%K European citizenship
%K minorities
%K Borders
%K Customs
%K Schengen
%K Frontex
%~ Universidad de Cádiz