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Join on Telegram Washington, DC-Moroccans pity the desperate Spanish diplomats. They are so desperate to contain Morocco that they blindly run to the arms of the illegitimate and brutal military junta that has systematically ruined every aspect of the Algerian state.
Moroccans watched with amusement and puzzlement as the Algerians duped a gullible Spanish government into trusting them to meet Spain’s energy needs. Once again, Algeria has made Spain seem like a clown in the international arena.
Prime Minister Sanchez should have known not to trust the volatile Algerian government to honor its commitments to ensure the delivery of natural gas to his country. Madrid knows that Algeria’s decision to shut down an oil pipeline crossing Morocco was politically motivated. And yet, Sanchez still flirts with the Algerian generals ignoring the needs of the Spanish people.
General Changriha, Algeria’s de facto leader, has sent Spanish officials running around like fools begging the Arab nations of the Gulf for gas. Madrid’s pro-Algeria actions strategically backtracked, but not before Rabat decided to freeze efforts to improve relations with its neighbor to the north.
Furthermore, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI recent speech is unwelcome news for Spain. The Monarch said Madrid can no longer speak with both sides of its mouth. Spanish political parties have relentlessly downplayed the impact of their unfriendly positions in Western Sahara on the souring relationship between the two nations, even as it became more evident and harder to miss.
Eager Spaniards are misreading the signals out of Rabat and jumping at every small gesture from the Moroccan Palace. The truth is that the Moroccans believe that their diplomacy can only succeed if there is a fear in Madrid of what might come across the Mediterranean.
Spain’s outdated foreign policy is a hindrance to the improvement of relations with Morocco and would end up killing the economies of the occupied enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. The ludicrous diplomatic balls in Madrid with Algeria further complicate the crisis. The once improving diplomatic mood in Rabat has been rapidly unraveling under Sanchez’s missteps.
Spanish politicians still dream of improving relations when Madrid has not taken a single step towards closing the growing gap between the two nations on the issue of Western Sahara. The Moroccan-Spanish Relations are at a critical juncture. Spanish diplomacy must clarify its positions or keep relations frosty and rocky.
The diplomatic coordination between Algeria and Spain is one reason Morocco should remain wary of Spain’s real motives in North Africa. Moroccans do not believe Madrid would ever live up to its promise to respect their national strategic interests.
Morocco has a vested interest in furthering relationships with Israel and the United Kingdom, rather than wasting time and energy courting a weak Spain. Rabat has no reason to accommodate a neighbor who is not willing to respect its territorial integrity.
Late King Hassan II believed that the Spanish and Moroccan Monarchies could be the rock of the relations between the two nations. Not anymore, Rabat can no longer stake political capital by trusting Spain to do the right thing. If the good neighbor approach failed, putting maximum pressure could yield a friendlier Spanish position on the Sahara conflict. Rabat has no illusions about the Spanish political establishment and the men and women who lead it.
Sanchez‘s accommodations of the Algerian military’s demands turning over Algerian human rights activists and welcoming corrupt Algerian generals in Spain make Madrid look weak and desperate.
Sanchez’s coziness with the Algerian military junta makes a diplomatic rapprochement with Rabat impossible under the current circumstances. Spain’s simplistic foreign policy has not worked, and yet its diplomacy remains stagnant and irrelevant in Europe and on the international scene.
Unlike in past arguments, Rabat is not willing to soften any of its measures on the borders with Spain unless Madrid takes serious and credible confidence-building measures. At this stage, the ball is in the camps of a confused and unprepared Spanish foreign ministry.
Madrid’s pity gestures of appeasement and its capitulations to the demands of the junta in Algiers are not going unnoticed around the world. It is no surprise that Rabat is now playing hard diplomacy on the Sahara dossier. Rabat is waiting for Madrid to wake up from its diplomatic coma to start fixing the damages that have been accumulating.
