Last week, Minister Félix Bolaños asked for “respect” for Morocco. He asked this of the ERC deputy Francesc-Marc Álvaro in a Congress committee. “Morocco is a country with which we must collaborate and maintain good neighborly relations.” On Monday of this week, the Prime Minister had nothing to reproach Morocco for. (Statements by Pedro Sánchez to the Ser radio station).
On Tuesday, Spanish Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon combat planes flew over Ceuta during maneuvers to fine-tune coordination between the air force and ground artillery units. Morocco has taken note.
On Thursday, Sánchez opened his appearance in Congress by recalling that the lions that adorn the main staircase of Parliament were cast with the bronze from cannons seized from the Moroccans in the Battle of Wad-Ras in 1860, the epilogue of the first African war. “Ceuta and Melilla will be Spanish until the end of time,” said the president in his second intervention.
September always brings adjustments.
“When I become Prime Minister, my first trip will be to Morocco. [An unwritten custom of Spanish presidents, which Pedro Sánchez changed in 2018 by traveling first to Paris to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron],” declared Alberto Núñez Feijóo last August 10 to the digital publication OK Diario . In the same interview, he added: “I have an absolute interest in getting along with Morocco. I only ask that it respect me; I will respect it.” Barely ten days had passed since the invasion of Ceuta, to put it in the language used this week by the Spanish right in Congress.
The tune changes: Spanish combat planes have flown over Ceuta this week
It was clear that the opposition leader did not want to antagonize the Moroccan regime because he knows the role Morocco plays in controlling irregular immigration and is aware of the cross economic interests between the two countries, interests that are especially important in Andalusia. Let us pay attention to the caution shown these weeks by the president of the Andalusian Government, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla . Ten days after the invasion of Ceuta – we continue using the now dominant language – Núñez Feijóo’s message to Rabat was: I do not want to strain the rope.
We had not yet entered the second phase of the crisis: the outbreak of unrest in Ceuta. Sánchez had not yet made the mistake of clinging throughout August to an old Spanish custom when things get ugly: an impassive demeanor. Impassive demeanor at La Mareta in Lanzarote, the official holiday residence. He was in daily contact with his ministers but did not want to move from the place. Impassive demeanor, he made the mistake of his life.
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In this week’s debate, Feijóo has begun to practice anti-Moroccan rhetoric, without resorting to Gothic script. He has accused Morocco of being behind the human avalanche and of blackmailing the current Spanish president, thanks to the espionage of his mobile phone in 2021. “I will be a free ruler,” he said.
Santiago Abascal also had his time of peace with Morocco. “Morocco is not the enemy, it is a neighboring nation with which we must have a relationship based on respect,” declared the Vox president in May of this year, after signals arrived from the United States and Israel of a possible rapprochement to Morocco’s claim over Ceuta and Melilla as retaliation for Spain’s position on the Gaza massacre and the Iran war.
Abascal now takes for granted that Morocco is behind everything. He accuses Sánchez of being the ambassador of Mohamed VI in Spain and proposes that Congress accuse the president of “high treason” and bring him before the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court, activating article 102 of the Constitution. The idea was launched in June, before the Ceuta crisis, by veteran jurist Pedro Cruz Villalón , former president of the Constitutional Court, liked in Madrid opinion circles, and Vox now adopts it to challenge the PP: dare. Feijóo bets on another path: the investigation opened in the National Court by judge María Tardón , former PP councilor in Madrid, could reach the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court.
Vox moves and shows maneuvering capacity on the other side of the Atlantic. It has just managed to get the president of the Heritage Foundation, the main think tank of Trumpism, to explicitly support Spain’s sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla, as reported last Friday by Javier Gallego in La Vanguardia .
September is a month of adjustments. After reprimanding Spain for the events in Ceuta, the Danish government has just recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara. Denmark recognizes Morocco’s authority over the Sahara in exchange for an agreement that opens the door to the return of Moroccan immigrants. This helps explain the attitude of the Social Democratic Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen before the Ceuta crisis. Frederiksen had a plan: to slap Sánchez and please Morocco.
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