“Chirac Pressured Me To Recognize Moroccan Sovereignty Over Western Sahara”

A valuable historical testimony from a senior Spanish official revealed how France conspired with the Moroccan regime to harm Algeria’s geopolitical interests, even during the era of presidents associated with the Gaullist movement (referring to the values established by General Charles de Gaulle), who are considered by some Algerians to be more moderate.

The sensational testimony came from former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, who led the Madrid government from 1996 to 2004. He stated that former French President Jacques Chirac exerted direct pressure on him to force Spain to make territorial concessions to Morocco, including Ceuta, Melilla, and Perejil Island, and to change its stance on the Western Sahara issue.

These statements came to light in a documentary broadcast by “Movistar Plus Channel,” titled “Isla Perejil,” which reviews the crisis that erupted between Spain and the Moroccan regime in 2002, when the Moroccan army invaded Perejil Island. Spain then responded with what it called “Operation Romeo Sierra,” during which it recaptured the island from the Moroccan army in a limited military operation.

Based on numerous Spanish press reports, including El País newspaper and the websites “Alvaro de Melilla” and “Alvaro de Ceuta,” José María Aznar said that Chirac, driven by his close relationship with Hassan II and later Mohammed VI, tried to impose a solution that served Rabat’s interests: “He asked me to change my position on Western Sahara and hand over Ceuta and Melilla” to the Alawite Kingdom.

The former Spanish Prime Minister confirms that his response was firm and an absolute rejection, at a time when France worked to prevent the European Union from supporting Spain during that crisis, which could have led to a war between Madrid and Rabat, had it not been for the Moroccan regime’s submission to the logic of force and its withdrawal of its army from “Perejil Island,” which is under Spanish sovereignty.

The Spanish position, considering Madrid a colonial power managing the non-self-governing territory at the time, was firm on the Sahrawi issue, supporting United Nations resolutions, which stipulate a referendum on self-determination for the Sahrawi people, based on the UN resolution issued in 1991, which also approved a ceasefire between the Polisario and the Moroccan regime.

That year (2002) also witnessed the signing of the Treaty of Friendship and Good Neighborliness between Algeria and Madrid, a treaty that remained steadfast until 2022, when Algeria decided to unilaterally suspend it, following the Pedro Sánchez government’s change of its country’s position on the Sahrawi issue and its departure from a neutral stance supporting UN resolutions. It remains suspended to this day, despite the warming of bilateral relations.

Chirac is described by some politicians in Algeria as a balanced president and a friend of Algeria. His visit to Algeria in 2003 was historic in terms of the political and media mobilization that preceded it, as he walked through the streets of the capital amidst cheers and ululations from women and youth.

France is considered the first country to support the autonomy plan presented by the Moroccan regime regarding Western Sahara in 2007. This was during the era of former President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was convicted in several corruption cases. Algeria was fully aware that France was the originator of this plan and had nurtured it since it was merely an idea in the late 1990s (during Jacques Chirac’s presidency) until it was announced as an initiative in 2007.

What the documentary contains confirms the reality of France’s historical complicity with the Moroccan regime’s regional ambitions, and reveals how Paris tried to influence Spanish policy in North Africa in favor of Moroccan expansion. Nevertheless, the Spanish alignment with the Moroccan regime on the Sahrawi issue was delayed by a full twenty years, i.e., until 2022, after that incident.

However, Paris, keen to further harm Algeria’s geopolitical interests, took a step ahead of Madrid. Two years after Spain changed its position on the Sahrawi issue, it took a more extreme step in 2024, when French President Emmanuel Macron decided to consider the autonomy plan the only solution to the Sahrawi issue, a position that, as is well known, caused the destruction of relations between Algeria and Paris.

The testimony of former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar proves a phrase previously uttered by former French Ambassador to the United States, François Delattre, which stated that “the Kingdom of Morocco is the mistress we sleep with every night, even though we are not necessarily in love with her, but we are obliged to defend her.”