Spain’s Sanchez Defends Shift on Western Sahara to Ease Morocco Tensions

The diplomatic crisis with Morocco "could not last any longer," said Pedro Sanchez, justifying his decision to change Spain’s position on the Sahara. "There was a problem that had to be resolved" with Morocco, a "strategic partner," he added, recalling that the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council had already approved Morocco’s project to grant autonomous status to the Sahara, as well as the Spanish governments in 2007 under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and in 2012 and 2017 under Mariano Rajoy.

To read: Spain Shifts Stance on Western Sahara, Aligning with Morocco’s Autonomy Plan

Pedro Sanchez also specifies that his government has only "followed the position that has also been expressed by other very powerful nations of the European Union such as France and Germany", specifying that even the European Commission welcomed on Monday Spain’s new position on the Sahara.

However, the president did not dare to affirm that "the new stage" in relations with Morocco implies a renunciation of the claim on Ceuta and Melilla by the latter. But he argued that his decision to support the Moroccan autonomy plan for the Sahara will strengthen "the respect for the territorial integrity of the two countries." This, he repeated several times, "is a good deal."

Regarding the reaction of Algeria, which recalled its ambassador to Madrid after the announcement of the change in Spain’s position, Sanchez simply reassured that the two countries have a "strategic relationship." "We are allied partners and we will continue to be," he said at the Ceuta Assembly.

The intervention of Pedro Sanchez from minute 11