Spain Respects Morocco’s Decision to Cancel Annual Migrant Return Operation Amid COVID-19 Concerns

"We respect Morocco’s decision" because it "responds to strictly health criteria," said María Jesús Montero, the government spokesperson, at the end of the Council of Ministers, rejecting the thesis that this decision would be linked to the diplomatic crisis between the two countries, opened since April, after Spain’s reception of the Polisario Front leader, Brahim Ghali.

Spain sees in this decision the Moroccan government’s willingness to continue to fight the spread of Covid-19 "by all possible means". "We are experiencing a similar situation to last year, with a higher cumulative incidence," explained the government spokesperson, recalling that in 2020 "we had agreed that the best thing to do was to preserve public health. Health safety is above any other consideration," she argued.

Montero returned to the statements of the President of Andalusia, Juanma Moreno, who, speaking on the issue, said that it is "obvious that Morocco’s decision will have a significant economic impact on Andalusia". According to her, the Andalusian president is asking exactly "the opposite" of what he had asked for last year, when the effects of the health crisis had worsened.