The Government has accepted that rebuilding diplomatic relations with Morocco is a very arduous task, much more than it anticipated, and has chosen to sidestep the urgent search for a global and take little by little steps. A gesture from Spain, another from Morocco. After months of continuous talks between the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, and his counterpart in Rabat, Nasser Bouritathe Executive has found in the Moroccan request to be able to regasify in Spain the liquefied gas that it buys on international marketsthe first opportunity to implement this new strategy.
The Ministry for Ecological Transition has given its approval to this request and the ships with the gas acquired by Morocco may be reconverted into the Spanish plants and sent to the neighboring country by Maghreb gas pipeline. In this way, Spain helps to solve the energy problems of the Alaouite kingdom, caused by the rupture of diplomatic relations with Algeria and the subsequent announcement by this country that it would no longer provide gas to Rabat.
This decision meant the closure of the Maghreb gas pipeline, which links the Algerian fields of Hassi R’Mel with Spain, through Morocco and the Strait of Gibraltar, which will now be reopened in the opposite direction to supply the regasified fuel in our country. Rabataccording to sources from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, has asked for support to ensure your safety on the basis of business relationships and Spain has responded positivelyas should be done with any partner or neighbor”.
reciprocal signals
The The Government has thus made a gesture to Morocco and what he hopes, in this long and complex process of thawing, is that there is a response from Rabat. A reciprocal signal of goodwill. And Spain interprets that it has occurred with the recovery of repatriation flightsaccording to government sources. The Ministry of the Interior plans to resume them, after this Monday Morocco reopened its borders to allow air traffic, which had been closed since April as a result of the pandemic.
This is a first step to normalize relations between the two countries. The immigrant repatriations who arrive illegally in Spain are always carried out by prior agreement with the host countryr. Without authorization from Morocco, they cannot be produced again. For the Government, Rabat thus responds to the support that Spain provides in the matter of gas.
Right now this seems to be the path of reconciliation. The Executive thought to see in the words of Mohamed VI, last August, in which he opted to open an “unprecedented stage” in relations with Spain, the symptom that the crisis was over. He even thought that political peace would be sealed after the summer with a trip by the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, to Rabat. Not only has it not happened. There has not even been an official meeting between Albares and Bourita, which, in the logic of diplomatic relations, would be the previous step.
Change in the Sahara
The reason is that although Morocco tried to convey that its anger with Spain was due to the reception in a hospital in Logroño of the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Gali, the truth was that it was seeking a change of position in the Sahara conflict, after In December 2020, Donald Trump recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the former Spanish colony. That is why he overreacted in the Ghali affair, withdrew his ambassador in Madrid and favored the arrival of an avalanche of immigrants to the shores of Ceuta.
The Sahara continues to be the great cause of conflict between Morocco and Spain. But for the Government a change of position is very complicated. The appointment of a UN special envoy, Stefan de Misturahas revived the search for solutions on a pending issue since 1975. Mistura has made a round of contacts with all the countries of the region, the next step will be to inform the secretary general and decide what to do.
The King’s Resource
Getting Spain to endorse the Moroccan autonomy plan for the Sahara seems an inalienable goal for Rabat. The Government has not even been worth one of its last movements, before the request to regasify its gas and send it through the gas pipeline, which was to involve the King in the search for a solution to the crisis. According to sources familiar with Moroccan politics, resort to Felipe VI, “a highly respected personality in Morocco” was something that came “late”. In addition, they maintain, Spain “didn’t know how to take advantage” of the offer to open a new relationship What did Mohammed VI August 20.
At that time, they explain, is when a call from the Spanish king to the Moroccan king, or a Sanchez’s trip to Rabat. “They strangled the Moroccan initiative with very little intelligence.” “Now we have to wait and wait”they conclude, unless Spain changes its position on the Sahara, which goes through a negotiated solution between Morocco and the Polisario with international endorsement, and supports its plan to make it Moroccan territory.