There are cities that live under a narrative they neither wrote nor chose. Cities that, for far too long, have been viewed from afar, interpreted more through the lens of their emergencies than their possibilities.
Ceuta and Melilla know that narrative well: the border, sociopolitical tension, migration crises, headlines that rarely manage to capture the complexity and richness of the life that pulses through their streets. A life also shaped by something far deeper and more everyday: coexistence, encounter and the extraordinary richness born of the meeting of cultures, languages and different ways of understanding the world. And yet, all too often, it is episodes of crisis that end up shaping, from the outside, a distorted image of both cities, an image that periodically returns to front pages, leads news bulletins and floods social media.
Ceuta and Melilla have lived for decades under a narrative that reduces them to their geopolitical condition. The 2021 migration crisis in Ceuta left a visible scar, but also an unjust shadow that the extremely grave situation experienced in recent weeks has deepened and almost normalised, feeding the notion that Ceuta is a territory condemned to live in a permanent state of exception. Much the same can be said of Melilla, where recurring episodes of migration pressure and border tension end up creating a landscape of tension and uncertainty in which the exceptional becomes everyday.
That narrow gaze has consequences. It makes it harder to attract investment and talent, undermines external perceptions of stability and affects collective self-confidence. The migration crises of recent days, like those of recent years, have left and continue to leave visible wounds. Wounds that hurt, that weigh heavily and that, at times, darken the horizon. Not only because of the scale of what has been experienced, but also because of the sense of vulnerability that lingers among citizens. Yet those wounds also reveal something that is not always told: the extraordinary strength of both cities. They are home to citizens who have sustained and continue to sustain coexistence, professionals and institutions that act responsibly, and neighbours who, in extreme humanitarian situations, step forward and help without asking who is who. That response is not improvised; it is the product of a civic culture that rarely makes the headlines or finds a place in the distorted narrative of the border and exceptionalism.
That is why we need to pause for a moment, listen to the murmur of their squares, look at their young people, talk to their people, and discover another truth, another narrative. There is something profoundly moving in witnessing the capacity of both cities to rise again and again, to turn the wounds of their recent history into learning. Because, in the end, their greatest wealth lies not in their geography, but in their people. Both cities have shown that they know how to respond to emergencies, but they cannot and do not want to live merely by responding to them. Ceuta and Melilla are two cities that want and deserve to build a future beyond this distorted narrative of the border and migration crises.
And they are doing so. With dignity, with effort, with a determination to build the future that deserves to be supported. We are well aware of the strategic commitment the governments of the autonomous cities are making to a future beyond the border: moving towards sustainable models of tourism and trade, backing an economy based on knowledge, digital technology and the blue economy, creating the conditions to attract talent and foster entrepreneurship and, above all, creating opportunities to retain population and offer secure prospects for life.
Ceuta and Melilla cannot be defined solely by border emergencies. They want and deserve to be defined by their capacity to build the future. And that future cannot depend on short-term aid or solidarity programmes activated only when crisis erupts. Ceuta and Melilla must be treated as a matter of State. They do not need to be viewed with compassion, nor solely through the lens of solidarity. They need confidence and determination. They need us to see them not as problems, but as possibilities. They need institutions that believe in them as deeply as the people who live there every day do.
The University of Granada understood this clearly long ago. Our campuses in Ceuta and Melilla are not a burden on the sustainability of our University. They are part of who we are. And we have shown it by sustaining our presence and our commitment even in the face of a structural funding shortfall that has persisted for more than a decade and whose resolution lies with the Government of Spain. On the contrary, our campuses embody an institutional commitment to two cities that need to build their future without delay.
The University of Granada sees Ceuta and Melilla not simply as two distinctive campuses, but as a strategic reality for the University itself. And that commitment is profoundly political, in the best sense of the word: a commitment to territorial cohesion, equal opportunities and the presence of the State, through the University, where it is needed most. We understand it as a responsibility, as a shared destiny rooted in the centuries-old history of our institution and in its bond with these two cities that are also home to the University. It also stems from our conviction that the public university can and must be a driver of social, economic and cultural transformation in both cities. Because the University, too, helps build the State. And doing so in Ceuta and Melilla carries an even deeper meaning.
We have the privilege, year after year and with every new academic year, of seeing how our campuses become, for thousands of young people in both cities, spaces of opportunity and hope, of encounter and coexistence; spaces, ultimately, from which they can imagine and build their future. Because the future of Ceuta and Melilla will also be written in classrooms and laboratories, through projects that begin small and face persistent difficulties – launching a new degree programme, creating technology-based companies, developing new research projects, nurturing and attracting talent – but which, when they find support, continuity and trust, can ultimately transform a city.
Europe talks about smart borders. It talks about technology, cooperation and safe mobility. Ceuta and Melilla can be precisely the places where that concept ceases to be a well-intentioned slogan and becomes a real model for the whole European Union. Ceuta and Melilla can become European benchmarks for smart borders. Not merely as control points, but as laboratories for technological, social and administrative innovation. The University can lead and support projects integrating advanced data analytics, artificial intelligence applied to border management, safe mobility models, cross-border cooperation systems, or research into coexistence and social cohesion. Ceuta and Melilla can become leading urban laboratories where Europe learns to manage its borders with more knowledge, greater intelligence, greater humanity and, above all, a stronger vision of the future.
But for that future to be possible, Europe and Spain must commit themselves. Not with one-off aid, but with long-term projects. Not with symbolic gestures, but with strategic investment capable of structurally transforming both territories. Ceuta and Melilla cannot continue to build their future from a position of permanent exception. They need stability, planning, investment and vision.
Spain must recognise that both cities are an essential part of its national project. Europe must understand that what is at stake here is not simply a border, but a model of coexistence and smart governance that can inspire the entire continent. Because what happens in Ceuta and Melilla is not only about Ceuta and Melilla. It also speaks to the kind of Spain and the kind of Europe we want to be.
Ceuta and Melilla deserve a new narrative. One that speaks of innovation, talent and opportunity. One that recognises their geostrategic and geopolitical singularity, that is sensitive to the hardship and suffering of these cities, but does not remain trapped by them. A narrative that looks forward, beyond the border and beyond the urgent need to ensure they are safe environments for their citizens. This will require calm judgement, urgent and indispensable political consensus, but above all political courage, collective ambition and commitment to the future.
A future that cannot wait. The future is now.
Pedro Mercado, Rector of the University of Granada