First trip of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, to Morocco since the beginning of the new legislature and twenty months after the signing of the joint declaration – April 7, 2022 – in which both countries conspired to relaunch “a “unprecedented stage” in their relationships. A new phase inaugurated just a month earlier by Spain’s 180-degree turn in relation to Western Sahara, fully supporting the autonomy plan advocated by Morocco and de facto rejecting the holding of a self-determination referendum in the former Spanish colony.
From the visit, Albares brings many praises for the “quality of the bilateral relationship” which is “better than ever”, but also new delays for the effective fulfillment of one of the most important commitments of the common declaration for Spain: the reopening of the Melilla customs office, unilaterally closed by Rabat’s decision in 2018, and the creation of its own in Ceuta.
The Spanish minister maintains that on the Spanish side everything is ready for the opening of the two commercial border crossings. This was revealed yesterday together with his Moroccan counterpart, Naser Burita, but the Spanish disposition has not yet found a counterpart in Morocco, which once again delays compliance with the agreement. The justification: details of “technical implementation” and “aspects that need to be developed further” are missing. The deadline: “In the coming months.” The new promise: “It will be executed and fulfilled.”
Albares discussed this issue yesterday with his counterpart, Burita, and with the Moroccan Prime Minister, Aziz Ajanuch, with whom he previously held a meeting that was not initially scheduled. He told both of them that for Spain it is not necessary to carry out more pilot tests – to date there have been three: in January, February and May – and that customs could be opened immediately. However, despite the subtle pressure exerted, we will have to continue waiting.
There is also no specificity at the moment on how to resolve the overlap in the delimitation of the territorial waters of the Atlantic coast, a problem that fully affects the Canary archipelago. This is also one of the commitments made in the joint statement of April 2022 and which remains pending.
From the meetings held yesterday by Albares, in relation to this matter there are only phrases made very much to the diplomatic taste of the neighboring country: “We will find a solution through dialogue, consensus and mutual respect”; In the new relationship there is no room for “unilateral measures” or “what motivates us to strengthen our collaboration is stronger than what could lead us to divergence or conflict.” This is how the Moroccan Foreign Minister spoke. The Spaniard, for his part, announced that in the next meetings held to discuss this matter there will be a place at the table for a representative of the Canary Islands Executive. This has been a request expressly made by President Fernando Clavijo.
Albares’ visit to Morocco, lacking in concrete progress, has nevertheless been very fruitful in laudatory statements. The climate between Madrid and Rabat is especially warm since, in March 2022, Pedro Sánchez sent a letter to Mohamed VI in which he gave full support to the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara, leaving aside for all purposes the historical support of Spain to the exercise of the right of self-determination of the Sahrawi people, as recognized by the United Nations.
That unilateral turn by Sánchez caused a real political upheaval in Spain: he was rejected by Congress and by all the ministers of the Unidas Podemos wing and, in addition, caused a serious diplomatic clash with Algeria, which proceeded to withdraw its ambassador in Spain. .
However, that change is what now allows the new stage of relations between Madrid and Rabat to be dressed with praise, although when it comes to going down into detail about the seven working groups that were created to comply with the commitments of the joint declaration, there is little More can be said than enumerating the dozen long meetings they have had. Albares hopes that from now on, with a new Government already established in Spain, the work will acquire cruising speed.
The two diplomatic representatives assure that cooperation, on the always thorny immigration issue, is now “excellent” and this, despite the fact that, as Albares admits, in recent months there has been a “small rebound” in arrivals of irregular immigrants from Morocco. On this point, the minister announced his intention to travel today to Senegal and Mauritania to address with his counterparts the problem of immigration arriving in the Canary Islands from the Sahel.
