Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (third from left) during a meeting with King Mohammed VI. (Center) of Morocco in Rabat, April 7, 2022. BORJA PUIG DE LA BELLACASA/LA MONCLOA/AFP
“We have to build mutual respect. By swallowing snakes if necessary. Spanish Socialist MEP Juan Fernandez Lopez Aguilar could hardly sum up the position Madrid has taken in recent months on Rabat in a bid to rejuvenate Spain-Morocco relations. This former minister was referring to the European Parliament’s January 19 vote on a resolution “urging the Moroccan authorities to respect freedom of expression and freedom of the media” and expressing concern “over the allegations that the Moroccan authorities tried to bribe elected members of the European Parliament”. The text, which angered Rabat and which followed revelations about Morocco and Qatar, was only rejected by the extreme right and… by Spanish socialist MPs.
Also read: “No crisis with Rabat,” assures Paris
In Madrid, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tried to end the controversy by declaring in Madrid on January 24 that the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) did not share “certain elements of the text”. “Don’t confuse caution with faintheartedness in the face of a powerful enemy. This is not the way to end intimidation,” retorted Basque Nationalist Party (PNV, moderate right) spokesman Aitor Esteban. Pedro Sanchez stressed “the strategic importance for Spain and the European Union to have the best relations with Morocco”. For him, there was no question of risking a misstep on the eve of the high-level meeting due to take place in Rabat on Wednesday 1 February and Thursday 2 February, which the government has described as “historic”. .
It has been eight years since Morocco and Spain held a joint summit, a sign of the deep crisis that relations between the two countries have been going through. Tensions peaked when in April 2021, at the request of Algiers, Spain welcomed and hospitalized Brahim Ghali, the leader of the Polisario Front of the Saharawi independence movement, who was ill with Covid-19. In response to what it saw as an affront, Morocco at least did not oppose the illegal entry of more than ten thousand of its citizens, including hundreds of minors, from Ceuta into the Spanish enclave.
“Risky Bets”
In Rabat, the two Strait of Gibraltar residents are scheduled to stage their reconciliation on Wednesday and Thursday, 11 months after Spain completely changed its traditionally neutral position towards its former colony of Western Sahara. In March 2022, Pedro Sanchez wrote in a letter to King Mohammed VI. indeed the Moroccan plan for Western Sahara’s “autonomy” as “serious, realistic and credible”. All Spanish parties except the PSOE condemned the decision, including their coalition partners. Incidentally, the government has drawn the wrath of Algeria, the main supporter of the Polisario Front. Algiers has recalled its ambassador and severed trade ties with Spain, except for gas exports, which account for a quarter of Spanish consumption and for which prices have been sharply negotiated upwards.
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