Mohamed VI marks the times and the scenery of his reconciliation with Spain

The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, and King Mohamed VI of Morocco during the meeting held at the Royal Palace of Rabat in November 2018. Ballesteros (EFE)

A call from King Mohamed VI to President Pedro Sánchez on Thursday morning forced all plans to change.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, who had planned to go to Rabat that afternoon, canceled his flight.

And the Embassy of Spain in Morocco had to notify the thirty Spanish and Moroccan businessmen who were going to participate in a meeting with the head of Spanish diplomacy and the more than 1,000 guests at the reception organized at the residence of the Spanish ambassador in Rabat, Ricardo Diez-Hochleitner.

There is no harm that it does not come well, the invitations may be moved to the middle of next week, when Sánchez is scheduled to visit Rabat, if his busy schedule allows him to celebrate it.

More information

Mohamed VI asks Sánchez to go to Morocco to seal the reconciliation

Mohamed VI, who marks the times and the scenery of his reconciliation with Spain, has wanted to give the maximum solemnity to an act that puts an end to a diplomatic crisis of ten months, bringing the President of the Government himself to Morocco.

Not surprisingly, the monarch has managed to make Spain the first country to recognize that the Moroccan autonomy plan is "the most serious, realistic and credible basis" for resolving the Sahara conflict and not just one more among others.

The president's trip to Morocco will coincide with the debate and vote this week by the plenary session of Congress on a non-law proposal from leftist and nationalist groups that rejects the Government's change of position on the Sahara, before which the PSOE could stay alone.

It was already planned that Sánchez would go to Rabat, but not until a few months from now, when the cooperation mechanisms foreseen in the "road map" negotiated by Albares with his Moroccan counterpart, Naser Burita, would be launched.

Now, both things must be done at the same time.

While Sánchez will be honored as a special guest of the

(the dinner with which the daily fast is broken during the holy month of Ramadan), Albares and Burita will review the list of bilateral commissions that, with the participation of the competent ministries, will promote cooperation between the two countries in the political, economic , cultural or security.

Although the complete list of them is not known, it is certain that these commissions will be in charge, among other matters, of reinforcing the control of irregular immigration, launching Operation Crossing the Strait 2022 (after two years of suspension) and plan the reopening of the border crossings of Ceuta and Melilla, closed to lock and key since the beginning of the pandemic.

This reopening, the sources consulted warn, will not be done all at once, but progressively.

In the joint statement that comes out of Sánchez's visit, the compensation that Spain has negotiated in exchange for the turn or "step" forward, in the words of Sánchez, should also be reflected in its position on the Sahara conflict.

Respect for the territorial integrity of the two countries —which, for Spain, means at least putting aside the Moroccan claim over Ceuta and Melilla—, cooperation in managing migratory flows and the renunciation of unilateral actions, such as the delimitation of Moroccan waters in the Canary Islands.

New headquarters for the Spanish School

Although the suspension of Albares' visit has delayed the implementation of the new "roadmap" by a week, diplomatic sources assure that the fruits of the new relationship with Morocco are already being seen.

They cite, among other examples, the resumption of repatriation flights for irregular immigrants, the reestablishment of maritime connections between the two countries;

or the unlocking of the new headquarters of the Spanish School of Rabat.

The building, with a budget of 16.5 million euros, will be built on a site donated by the King of Morocco and will have capacity for almost 1,000 students.

The cross of improving relations with Morocco is the deterioration of ties with Algeria.

After having called its ambassador in Madrid, Said Musi, for consultations, Algiers has suspended the repatriation of immigrants arriving in Spain from its coasts, according to

although the Interior assures that no new repatriations have been requested in recent weeks.

In addition, it has denied the extension of flights between Spain and Algiers, once the restrictions imposed by the pandemic have been relaxed, so these will continue to be limited to four weekly: three by Vueling from Barcelona;

and one from Iberia from Madrid.

Other European countries —such as the United Kingdom, Belgium or Italy— have managed to expand their frequencies.

Algeria does not hide its displeasure at the change of position of the Spanish Government and the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chakib Kaid, declared last Monday to

that his country will make "a review of all agreements with Spain in all areas, to see how the relationship develops in the future."

The first warning came this Friday, when Toufik Hakkar, executive president of Sonatrach, the Algerian hydrocarbons company, assured that, "despite the fact that the price of gas and oil have skyrocketed after the start of the crisis in Ukraine , Algeria has decided to maintain, for all its customers, relatively correct contract prices”.

But he has added, in statements to the official Algerian agency APS: "However, proceeding to a recalculation of prices with our Spanish client is not ruled out."

Algeria is the main supplier of gas in the Spanish market, with 40% of the total last year.

Exclusive content for subscribers

read without limits

subscribe

I'm already a subscriber