‘Melilla Unida’ is confident that the gesture will reduce waiting hours at the border crossing
MELILLA, March 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Morocco has stopped stamping the passports of Spaniards residing in Melilla who cross into their country, as well as Moroccan cross-border workers who pass daily to the Spanish city to work, or Moroccan citizens residing in Nador in possession of a visa, according to informed the ‘Melilla Unida’ platform, which is confident that the measure will reduce the long waits that have occurred since its reopening.
The Government Delegation has also confirmed this decision of the Moroccan Government and that it had been claimed by said platform to reduce the queues that have been recorded when crossing from one side to the other since the land borders of Ceuta and Melilla reopened on 27 of May.
The social platform created in Melilla last January to put an end to queues that can exceed eight hours at the border had officially asked the governments of Spain and Morocco to put an end to passport stamping for residents of Melilla and Nador, in accordance with the historic neighborhood agreement between the two provinces that was applied before the border closure of March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘Melilla Unida’ had officially conveyed this request in separate meetings held with the governor of the Moroccan town of Nador, Ali Khalil, and the Government delegate in Melilla, Sabrina Moh.
Two months later, the Government of Morocco has begun this week not to stamp the passports of Spaniards residing in Melilla, cross-border workers and Moroccans residing in Nador, the province closest to the Spanish city.
The platform has expressed its hope that this new measure will contribute to reducing the queues to get through, although it is confident that more actions will be taken, such as re-requesting the DNI only for residents of Melilla instead of the passport, as was the case before the closure of borders of March 13, 2020, and have three entry lanes and three exit lanes permanently open and even that the system be flexible and become four entry lanes to Melilla and two exit lanes and vice versa, depending on each moment of the needs of vehicle traffic existing at the border post.
Another of the requests is the creation of a lane for bicycles and motorcycles, “so that they do not have to mix with motor vehicles and thus avoid possible risks for these most vulnerable drivers on their two-wheeled devices.”
Finally, the ‘Melilla Unida’ platform has requested that people from Melilla who cross the border into the Alaouite kingdom be allowed to do so with “small purchases that have nothing to do with smuggling” and thereby end the current ban on introducing products from Melilla since the border reopened on May 27, 2022 after 24 months of closure.
