Spain in Talks with Morocco over Sahara Airspace Management, Denies Control Transfer

Over the past two years, two meetings have been held with Morocco to discuss the management of the airspace of the Sahara, the Spanish Executive said in a response to a question from the deputy of the Canarian Coalition, Cristina Valido, asking to know the content of the agreements concluded with Morocco "for the transfer of the management of the existing airspace between the autonomous community of the Canary Islands and the territory of Western Sahara".

In this response to which Europa Press had access, the Spanish government recalled that point 7 of the joint declaration between Spain and Morocco, signed on April 7, 2022 in Rabat, had announced the commitment to "discussions on the management of airspaces". It is on this basis that a "working group on air cooperation has been created, which has met twice since then, in order to improve cooperation between the two parties," it explained.

"The working group has focused on technical cooperation, information and communication in the airspace, as well as on their safety and management," the Spanish Executive specified, stressing that Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares and President Pedro Sanchez, during their recent visits to Morocco, in December 2023 and February 2024 respectively, reiterated their agreement for the continuation of this working group.

In a response to a parliamentary question in March 2023, the Spanish government had stated that this issue was the subject of discussions with Morocco, specifying that the exchanges aimed at coordinating the management of the airspace "between the two parties" in order to "guarantee greater security". For its part, Morocco, without stating it publicly, wishes to regain control of the airspace over the Sahara, currently managed from the Canary Islands.