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Rabat – Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has admitted that his country’s regime has been exerting financial pressure on Spain to force the European country to disown its support for Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces.
“Spain had made a mistake, and today it has corrected it,” Tebboune said in a meeting on Friday.
He claimed that Spain had backtracked on its support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan, as it has been losing $7 billion annually in exports to Algeria.
President Tebboune’s claims prove Algeria’s financial pressure campaign on European countries, particularly Spain, for considering the Moroccan Autonomy Plan as the most serious and credible path to a lasting political solution of the dispute over Western Sahara.
Spain adopted its newfound position in March 2022, ending its decades-long ambiguous stance on Morocco’s territorial integrity.
The shift frustrated Algeria’s regime, which responded by its traditional act of summoning and recalling its ambassador to Madrid for consultation.
Algeria also threatened sanctions against Spain before it froze a 20-year-old friendship treaty, affecting trade cooperation between the two countries.
Algiers has been repeating the same maneuvers with European countries that have decided to follow in the steps of Spain by recognizing the autonomy plan as the most viable and only feasible political solution to the stagnant UN-led process in Western Sahara.
But Tebboune’s recent claims stand in stark contrast to Spain’s continued confirmation that its position in favor of the Moroccan autonomy initiative remains unchanged.
On April 17, Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Manuel Albares sent another blow to Algeria’s regime and its proxy Polisario by reiterating Madrid’s support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan.
Albares made these remarks during a meeting in Madrid with his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita.
Spain recognizes the importance of the Sahara issue for Morocco, said the top Spanish diplomat, highlighting Morocco’s serious and credible efforts within the framework of the UN-led political process to reach a mutually acceptable political solution.
Algeria’s regime has long endured similar setbacks in recent years and months, with a growing cohort of European countries increasingly expressing support for Morocco’s autonomy initiative.
Most recently, the Algerian regime failed in its maneuvers in the US, whose new administration has in recent weeks repeatedly reiterated its strong support for Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces in Western Sahara.
In response to Tebboune’s recent remarks, Grok – a generative AI chatbot developed by xAI launched as an initiative by tech billionaire Elon Musk – debunked Tebboune’s claim that his government’s pressure has derailed Spain’s embrace of Morocco’s autonomy initiative for the Sahara.
“No official change has been reported. Tebboune may have made this statement for political reasons, aiming to strengthen Algeria’s solution against Morocco and rally internal support, in the context of regional rivalry and Algeria’s backing of the Polisario Front,” Grok wrote, noting that Spanish support for Moroccan territorial integrity remains unchanged.
