Spain’s junior government partner, Sumar, is urging a reconsideration of the country’s plan to co-host the 2030 World Cup with Morocco, following a significant migration crisis in Ceuta.

On Wednesday, Sumar tabled a motion in the Spanish Parliament, advocating for Spain’s sports authorities to revisit the joint hosting plans with Morocco and Portugal. Despite holding only 26 seats in the 350-member Parliament, Sumar wields notable influence due to its ministerial positions within Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government. Sánchez has faced criticism from other European Union members regarding the Ceuta crisis.

The motion, which is non-binding, seeks broader parliamentary support but seems unlikely to gain traction beyond other small left-wing factions.

The push for reassessment follows events last week in Ceuta, where tens of thousands surged across the Moroccan border into the European enclave. Sánchez defended Moroccan authorities, noting their swift action in returning nearly all of the 72,000 individuals who crossed. However, the Interior Ministry reports that about 2,000 people, including 1,000 minors, remain in Ceuta.

Opposition figures and even Spain’s defence minister have demanded further explanation from Morocco regarding its response to the crisis, which was allegedly fueled by social media posts encouraging border crossings. Tragically, over 80 people died attempting to swim into Ceuta from Morocco last Thursday and Friday.

Nahuel González, a Sumar MP, accused Morocco of leveraging migration for political gain, stating, "The Moroccan state, the Moroccan monarchy, does not respect human rights, it uses migrants to exercise political pressure." While González did not explicitly call for Morocco’s exclusion from hosting, he emphasized the need to defend human rights in the context of the World Cup.

In Portugal, the small parliamentary party Livre also echoed these concerns, urging a reassessment of the World Cup bid, deeming it "unsustainable" post-Ceuta crisis. The majority of the 2030 World Cup is set to be co-hosted by Spain, Morocco, and Portugal, with Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay each staging a single game to commemorate the centenary of the inaugural World Cup in 1930.