Fairground workers were among those waiting outside Ceuta’s heliport for Sanchez’s arrival after the city’s annual fair was cancelled. Their anger merged with protests over the border emergency as the Prime Minister’s convoy pulled away under heavy police protection.

Insults and police tension outside Ceuta heliport 

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez landed at Ceuta Heliport shortly after 11.40am on Friday July 31, accompanied by Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska. National Police and Guardia Civil officers had to establish a substantial security presence around the heliport, where local coverage placed the crowd at approximately 40 people. The official convoy was met with jeers and insults as it left the area. Officers intervened as tensions rose high around members of the crowd, prompting further complaints from other protesters nearby.

Demonstrators accused Sánchez’s government of failing to protect the border and damaging the city’s hospitality trade. Homophobic chants were also directed at Marlaska, according to accounts from the scene. Further protests then awaited Sánchez outside the Palace of the Assembly, where CeutaTV filmed residents holding placards and chanting against the Prime Minister.

Cancelled fair brings workers into the protest

The crowd near the heliport brought together people angry about the government’s handling of the border emergency and fairground workers protesting the cancellation of Ceuta’s annual fair. The event had been due to run from August 1 to 8, but the autonomous city suspended it on Friday morning, citing the uncertainty, instability and public concern caused by the unfolding situation. The city acknowledged that the decision would affect fairground workers, hospitality businesses, traders and performers.

Their presence added a personal local grievance to the wider protest that reflects one of the many ways the current surge is affecting local’s lives. Demonstrators also accused the government of damaging hospitality businesses, although no specific losses have yet been given.

Tarajal and coordination meeting follow Sánchez’s arrival

La Moncloa’s official timetable for the visit had scheduled Sánchez to meet state security representatives at the Tarajal border at 11.40am. Reports that he landed at approximately that time indicate the programme was running later than originally published. Sánchez travelled from the heliport to Tarajal with Marlaska, where he met representatives of the National Police and Guardia Civil and viewed the security operation at the border.

He then attended a coordination meeting at Ceuta’s Palace of the Assembly with city president Juan Jesús Vivas, Government Delegate Miguel Ángel Pérez Triano, senior National Police and Guardia Civil representatives, the director of Ceuta’s Temporary Stay Centre for Immigrants (CETI) and representatives from the Red Cross.

The visit follows the rapidly escalating border emergency that has led Ceuta to seek extraordinary intervention from Madrid, as previously reported. 

Sánchez pledges resources and possible business support

Following the coordination meeting, Sánchez said Spain would use “all the mechanisms and resources” available to protect security and social harmony in Ceuta. He described the mass crossing as a “violation of Spain’s territorial integrity”. The Prime Minister said a temporary reception centre would be established to accelerate documentation and removal procedures for people with no legal claim to remain in Spain. He also announced plans to install a visible line of buoys near the Tarajal breakwater. The government argues that marking the border more clearly could help facilitate returns while complying with the recent Supreme Court ruling on people arriving by sea.

El Gobierno garantizará la seguridad de los vecinos y vecinas de Ceuta, intensificando la presencia de las Fuerzas y Cuerpos de Seguridad en las calles de la ciudad.

Además, vamos a desplegar una barrera física de contención en el mar para facilitar la repatriación en frontera,… pic.twitter.com/Mj2LrcoBV9

— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) July 31, 2026

Sánchez said the government would also examine possible help for small businesses forced to close during the emergency. No aid scheme, eligibility conditions or timetable were announced in his initial statement.

Emergency works to repair a road surface collapse on the A-45 near Casabermeja continue to disrupt one of Malaga province’s busiest dual carriageways. Northbound traffic towards Cordoba faces the heaviest restrictions, while delays also are building in the opposite direction towards Malaga City, the provincial capital.

Sinkhole prompts lane closures near Casabermeja

Road crews are tackling a “socavon”, or sinkhole, in the carriageway surface at Casabermeja. The defect forms part of wider emergency repairs authorised after intense storms in late 2025 and early 2026 damaged stretches of both the A-45 and A-7.

Work has required the complete closure of the Cordoba-bound carriageway over several kilometres. A temporary transfer previously switched traffic onto the opposite side of the dual carriageway between roughly kilometre points 123.6 and 118.2. Full closure extended across about five and a half kilometres, with the Cordoba direction shut between 125.5 and 123.5 and the Malaga direction restricted between 116.5 and 118.

➡️Alternativa hacia Córdoba/Granada: AP-46 y, para vehículos ligeros desde la A-7 en Vélez-Málaga, por A-356 y A-7204. pic.twitter.com/QP78geAL6X

— Dir. Gral. Tráfico (@DGTes) July 31, 2026

Queues build in both directions

Traffic monitors recorded queues of two kilometres towards Cordoba and one and a half kilometres towards Malaga on recent weekends. Similar delays have appeared daily during the peak summer period, when the A-45 carries heavy volumes of local and tourist traffic between the coast, Antequera and inland Andalucia.

Local politicians have criticised the decision to carry out the works in high season with so much traffic already on the roads.

Some have chimed in and asked the Spanish government whether no better date existed than the height of summer to close both lanes towards Cordoba. They describe the timing as an even bigger blow to a province that depends heavily on tourism and argued that such maintenance should take place at night.

Earlier, there were also daytime lane closures on the A-7 that produced similar congestion and called for explanations from Transport Minister Oscar Puente, which never came.

Alternative routes available

Drivers wanting to avoid the works can use the parallel AP-46 toll motorway, known as the Autopista de las Pedrizas or Guadalmedina.

Light vehicles only may follow secondary roads: from the A-7 at Velez-Malaga via the A-356 and A-7204, or from the Antequera and Granada approaches by leaving the A-45 at exit 114 or the A-92 at exit 24, then continuing on the A-7204, A-356 and MA-3100.

Latest position on 31 July

Later on Friday, July 31, the Directorate-General for Traffic confirmed that the temporary transfer had been removed. The right-hand lane towards Cordoba reopened, yet the left-hand lane remains closed. Restrictions and the risk of further delays therefore continue.

Anyone planning to travel the A-45 should consult the latest DGT alerts through the official app, the @DGTes account or traffic cameras before setting out. Conditions can alter quickly while emergency repairs remain under way, and peak summer periods are likely to produce the longest waits.

The 17 per cent rise assumes a household used exactly the same amount of electricity as in June. After weeks of keeping homes cool, some regulated-tariff customers may find the real increase is steeper, while fixed-price customers could be protected for now.

A typical default tariff bill rises from €66.63 to €77.84

A typical household on Spain’s regulated electricity tariff faces an extra €11.21 for July, even before any increase in consumption is taken into account. The Organisation of Consumers and Users (OCU) calculated that a home with 4.6 kilowatts of contracted power and monthly consumption of 292 kilowatt hours would pay €77.84 for July. The same household and consumption produced a lesser €66.63 bill in June. That represents a 16.8 per cent rise caused by changes in electricity prices, before the home even uses more power.

Actual bills will vary according to consumption, contracted power and tariff. But anyone who ran air conditioning more frequently during July’s extreme heat could therefore pay considerably more than the already risen figures.

The calculation applies specifically to the Precio Voluntario para el Pequeño Consumidor (PVPC), Spain’s regulated electricity tariff. The latest published market review from Spain’s energy regulator found that approximately 8.4 million customers, or 28.5 per cent of the total, were still on PVPC at the end of 2024.

Why July electricity suddenly became more expensive

OCU said Spain’s average wholesale electricity price climbed 51 per cent during July to €104.75 per megawatt hour, its highest monthly level since February 2025. The consumer organisation attributed much of the rise to uncertainty surrounding gas supplies during the continuing Middle East crisis. Gas-fired power plants still help set Spain’s electricity price during many hours when renewable generation cannot meet demand. Summer conditions also added further pressure. High temperatures increased demand as cooling systems were switched on, while extreme heat can reduce the efficiency of solar panels. That meant greater reliance on gas-fired combined-cycle plants during some periods.

The rise could have been sharper for PVPC customers. Under the tariff’s revised formula, 45 per cent of its energy-cost calculation is linked to the daily wholesale market, while the remaining 55 per cent comes from more stable futures-market references. That system was introduced to make the regulated tariff less vulnerable to sudden wholesale price swings. In July, however, it softened rather than prevented the increase.

Could an August tax relief soften the increase?

Spain’s June emergency legislation included a mechanism that could have reduced electricity VAT to 10 per cent and the Special Electricity Tax to 0.5 per cent during August. However, the rules published in Spain’s Official State Gazette required the annual electricity component of the Consumer Price Index for June to rise by more than 15 per cent before those reductions could be activated. That threshold was not reached. OCU said electricity bills issued during August will therefore retain the usual tax rates, including 21 per cent VAT and the standard Special Electricity Tax of approximately 5.11 per cent.

The absence of the reduction did not create the 16.8 per cent market-driven increase. It means the conditional tax relief will not cushion households against it.

PVPC and indexed customers face the greatest exposure

Customers on PVPC and free-market tariffs directly linked to wholesale prices are the most exposed to the latest increase. A genuine fixed-price free-market contract should not experience the same immediate rate change. The National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) says suppliers cannot alter an agreed fixed price before the contract expires. However, higher consumption will still produce a larger bill, and new prices may apply when a contract is renewed.

Customers should be able to view their tariff type on their electricity bill. PVPC customers are supplied by a comercializadora de referencia, or reference supplier, while free-market contracts normally name the particular commercial tariff. 

This distinction is not widely understood and should be checked carefully. A CNMC household survey found that 52.2 per cent of homes did not know the difference between the regulated and free electricity markets. A useful tool for residents is the CNMC’s official Entiende tu factura platform, accessible through the QR code on many electricity bills, and can identify the supplier, tariff type and contract expiry date.

The next tax checkpoint to look out for will be in September

The government’s tax safeguard will be assessed again in August using July’s electricity inflation figure. If that component has risen by more than 15 per cent year on year, qualifying supplies could receive 10 per cent VAT and the reduced electricity tax during September. Otherwise, customers can expect the standard rates to continue.

Until then, the important figure to watch out for on each bill is the tariff rather than the national average. The €77.84 calculation is a regulated-tariff example based on unchanged consumption, and homes that used more electricity to keep cool during the recent heatwaves may find the final amount is higher.