Rabat – The Spanish government has denied that there are any conflicts with Morocco, saying the two countries remain close partners despite some “disagreements.” Officials criticized the far-right party Vox for trying to create what they called a “false narrative” of secret tensions and espionage.
Diego Rubio, head of the Spanish Prime Minister’s Office, made the comments on Thursday during a meeting of the Joint National Security Committee in Congress. He was responding to Vox deputy Ignacio Gil Lázaro, who had questioned whether Morocco should be seen as a “military threat.”
‘No secret conflict’
Rubio rejected Vox’s suggestion and said there is “no secret conflict” or spy war between Spain and Morocco. “Morocco is a neighbor, a friend, and a strategic partner,” he said. While acknowledging that “there are always disagreements between neighbors,” Rubio compared them to Spain’s merely normal differences with Portugal or France.
He added that relations between Madrid and Rabat are “at one of their best moments in history,” highlighting cooperation in several areas such as migration management, anti-terrorism efforts, and fighting smuggling and human trafficking.
However, the conservative Popular Party (PP) took a more critical tone. PP deputy Rafael Hernando made a sarcastic remark in Congress referring to past reports about the Pegasus software, using them to question the government’s handling of relations with Morocco.
“Relations with Morocco are so good that the biggest success of Moroccan espionage was hacking, with Pegasus, the phones of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his ministers of Interior and Defense,” Hernando said.
Vox has repeatedly accused the government of ignoring what it describes as Morocco’s “hybrid war” against Spain. Earlier this week, the party’s proposal in the Ceuta Assembly, calling for more border security and warning of a Moroccan “invasion,” was also rejected by all other parties.
For now, the Spanish government insists that cooperation with Morocco is strong and essential, and calls for a focus on partnership, rather than conspiracy theories.
