Guarantees in Ceuta that the approach to Morocco reinforces the territorial integrity of Spain
Pedro Sánchez has had to travel to Ceuta to refer for the first time to the strategic shift of his Government on Western Sahara and relations with Morocco. He has pointed out that his letter to King Mohamed VI on March 14 has put an end to “the unsustainable situation of the last ten months.” And why now, he has asked himself: «It is never too late if happiness is good. It’s a good deal for both countries.”
The President of the Government has defended that “the crisis” in diplomatic relations “cut off” with Morocco “could not be sustained over time”. He has justified his pragmatic approach at the cost of abandoning a historical position of 47 years in defense of the self-determination of the Sahara because “there was a problem that had to be resolved” with the neighboring country to the south and “strategic partner”.
Without denying that there has been a change of position, he has framed his letter to the Alaouite monarch in the official doctrine that the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council have already given their approval to Morocco’s plan to give autonomous status to the Sahara. And the Government of Spain, he has underlined, endorsed them in 2007 with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and in 2012 and 2017 with Mariano Rajoy.
His Government, he specified, “has followed the position that other very powerful nations of the European Union such as France and Germany have also expressed.” Even, he added, the European Commission endorsed last Monday the new Spanish position on Western Sahara.
Ceuta and melilla
Sánchez has not dared to assure that “the new stage” in relations with Rabat will mean the end of the historic claim of the Moroccan status of Ceuta and Melilla by the Alaouite kingdom. But he has pointed out that his commitment to Morocco’s plan for the autonomy of the Sahara has reinforced “respect for the territorial integrity of both nations.” It is, he has repeated on several occasions, “a good deal.”
Nor has he been very explicit about Algeria, which has withdrawn its ambassador from Madrid after learning of Spain’s change of position, but has pointed out that relations are “extraordinary.” Morocco and Algeria, he continued in his speech at the Ceuta Assembly, form “a strategic relationship” for Spain. “We are allied partners and we will continue to be so.” But if there was prior notice to the Government of Algiers about the change with respect to the former colony, he did not say anything.
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