Berlin assures that it does not understand the reproaches that Morocco has made to Germany for its position on the sovereignty of Western Sahara and that it has asked Rabat for "explanations" about what happened.
"We are very surprised," said a spokeswoman for the German Foreign Ministry after announcing on Thursday the call for consultations with the Moroccan ambassador to Germany, Zohour Alaoui.
Angela Merkel's government was unaware that Rabat was going to make this decision.
"It is quite unusual and, from our point of view, it is not a very appropriate procedure to resolve a diplomatic crisis," said the spokeswoman.
The Moroccan authorities ugly to the German Government its "antagonistic activism" and "hostile acts" regarding the conflict in Western Sahara after last December Donald Trump, then president of the United States, recognized the sovereignty of Morocco over this disputed territory. Germany has not changed its position regarding the conflict in the former Spanish colony. In a statement made public at the time, Berlin claimed to be in favor of "a just, lasting and mutually acceptable solution under the mediation of the United Nations." In other words, it continues to maintain that the status of Western Sahara is still pending resolution.
Diplomatic relations between Germany and Morocco deteriorated in March, when the Moroccan Foreign Ministry ordered the entire Administration to suspend contacts with the German Embassy in Rabat.
In an internal statement leaked to the press, only "deep misunderstandings" were pointed out as a reason, but all the media attributed it to the German position on Western Sahara.
Since then, neither progress nor any setback had transpired, until this Thursday, and by surprise, Morocco called its ambassador for consultations.
More information
Keys to the conflict between Morocco and the Polisario Front
The powerful alliances that explain Morocco's international influence
Among the "hostile acts" that Rabat attributes to Berlin is its "constant effort" to "fight against the regional role of Morocco," says the Foreign Ministry in the note it made public on Thursday. It refers to an international conference held in January 2020 in Berlin on the Libyan conflict to which Russia, Turkey, the United States, Egypt and the EU were invited, but not Morocco. Rabat also accuses Germany of "complicity" with an "ex-convict for terrorist actions", referring to Mohamed Hajib, a German of Moroccan origin, a suspected Salafist, who was handed over to Morocco by Germany, where he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for terrorism and that after being released in 2017 he returned to Germany. According to Morocco in the note,the German Government has shared with him sensitive information from the Moroccan secret services, without specifying what kind.
The spokeswoman for the German Government assured that the allegations in that statement "are unfounded" and that the Foreign Ministry does not understand them.
"In recent weeks, we have worked hard with the Moroccan side to maintain a constructive dialogue and find a solution to the crisis," he added, underlining his disbelief at the measure taken by Morocco without prior notice.
Germany and Morocco have a fluid commercial, business and tourist relationship.
Germany is Rabat's seventh trading partner by value of exports, according to 2019 data from the German Foreign Ministry.
There are almost 300 companies with German participation operating in Morocco and 6% of the foreign tourists that the country receives come from Germany.