Is Spain a failed State?

The recent scenes in Ceuta, where large numbers of migrants have attempted to cross into Spanish territory, raise a fundamental question: Is Spain gradually becoming a failed state?

Geostrategic Blindness and Hybrid Warfare in Ceuta

Spain's borders are not merely Spanish borders. They are also the external borders of the European Union. When those borders are repeatedly challenged, it is not only Spain's sovereignty that is being tested, but also Europe's credibility.

What is happening in the Spanish post-colonial enclave of CEOUTA (Morocco), is not a sudden, spontaneous migration spike. It esembles a geopolitical pressure tactic. An orchestrated hybrid warfare operation, a covert action deployed by Moroccan Intelligence Services. By leveraging human lives, the Moroccan regime seeks political and economic concessions from the European Union, relying on the exact playbook used by Erdogan along the Greek-Turkish border or Haftar in Libya.

Whether through direct state action or indirect encouragement, the result is the same: human beings become instruments in geopolitical bargaining.

Yet, instead of demonstrating strategic leadership, the Spanish government appears consumed by domestic political scandals and controversy, while failing to adequately address long-term geopolitical risks.

Border security is not merely an immigration debate, it is a matter of national security and European stability.

Civil Vulnerability: Failure to Protect Property

Unfortunately, this is not the only example of institutional failure. Spain has also struggled to protect citizens and private property during devastating wildfires. Every summer, thousands of hectares are lost, homes are destroyed, and communities are left wondering whether enough preparation and prevention ever existed in the first place.

Kafka in Madrid: A Personal Descent into Bureaucracy

Moreover, I personally experienced another form of governmental dysfunction. In February 2024, while living in Zurich, my Spanish passport expired. I visited the Spanish Consulate in Zurich and asked how to renew it. After repeatedly seeking confirmation, I was assured that I could simply travel to Madrid Airport and renew it at the authorized police office there.

Trusting those assurances, I travelled to Madrid.

Only upon arrival did I discover that the airport police station did not renew passports.

The advice given by my own consulate was completely wrong.

What followed was an extraordinary demonstration of bureaucratic inefficiency. Frustrated, I began searching police stations across Madrid. It is worth noting that in Spain, passport and identity-card renewals are still handled at police stations that are institutional remnants of the Franco's dictatorship era. At the first one, I was informed that I could not renew my passport because I did not possess a Spanish National Identity Card (DNI). The irony, of course, is that I have never had one, my passport had always been sufficient for every administrative need, globally, and I’ve always preferred a minimalist approach rather than collecting unnecessary documents in an already over‑bureaucratic system.

The paradox was astonishing.

• To renew my passport, I first needed a DNI.

• To obtain a DNI, I needed valid identification such as . . . a passport.

• My passport had already expired.

I was trapped in a bureaucratic loop with no apparent solution.

After contacting several additional police stations, one officer finally proposed an alternative. My Spanish Embassy in Athens would need to send my birth certificate to Madrid. Not electronically, not through secure government databases, but by traditional postal mail, complete with the official stamp of the Spanish Ambassador or Consulate.

Only after waiting several days for the document to arrive could I finally obtain my DNI. Only after receiving my DNI was I permitted to renew my passport.

In the era of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, blockchain, and digital identities, my citizenship ultimately depended on a birth certificate travelling across Europe by ordinary mail.

I remained in Madrid for approximately fifteen days simply to renew a passport, and while I enjoyned, as always, the beauty and spirit of the capital, this experience illustrated something larger than administrative inconvenience.

It reflects an outdated bureaucracy that often appears incapable of delivering efficient public services despite the technological capabilities available today.

Combined with recurring governance challenges, border pressures, and the inability to modernize public administration, these issues raise legitimate concerns about Spain's institutional resilience.

A modern state is measured not only by its economic indicators but by its ability to protect its borders, safeguard its citizens, modernize its institutions, and provide efficient public services.

When these responsibilities repeatedly fail, public confidence inevitably declines.

The consequences extend beyond bureaucracy. They affect economic competitiveness, social cohesion, demographic stability, and geopolitical influence.

Europe cannot afford persistent institutional complacency.

As the ancient Greek philosopher Democritus observed:

For the foolish, not reason but misfortune is the teacher. (Νηπίοισιν ου λόγος, αλλά ξυμφορή γίνεται διδάσκαλος).

If Spain, and Europe as a whole, fail to heed today’s warning signs, those challenges will harden into tomorrow’s irreversible crises.

P.S.

The introducing image is Saturn Devouring His Son (1820–1823) by the Spanish master Francisco Goya.

Traditionally interpreted as the Roman god Saturn (the Greek Titan Cronus) consuming one of his own children out of fear of being overthrown, the painting has become one of the most haunting symbols of self-destruction.

Whether Goya intended this precise interpretation remains debated, but its enduring power lies in portraying fear consuming the very future it seeks to preserve.

It is a fitting metaphor for societies that, through institutional paralysis, bureaucratic inertia, or political short-sightedness, risk undermining their own future.