Demands Within PM Sanchez’s Party To Correct Spain’s position on Western Sahara

The ruling Socialist Party in Spain is experiencing a state of restlessness, due to the position on the Sahrawi issue, which, in the opinion of many of its activists, is inconsistent with the decision of the European Court of Justice issued on 4 October, which ruled, as is well known, that the Moroccan regime has no sovereignty over the Sahrawi territories.
The party’s executives and youth are calling on Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to correct the Spanish position on the Sahrawi issue, after the Madrid government made a U-turn in 2022 by supporting the autonomy plan presented by the Alaouite regime in the Western Sahara issue, outside the decisions of the United Nations and international law.
In response to the dissatisfaction of party executives with the position of the Sanchez-led government on the Sahrawi issue, the Socialist Labour Party (PSOE) removed any reference to Morocco and Western Sahara from the 41st Congress to be held in Seville at the end of November, as reported by the Spanish newspaper ‘El Independiente’, contrary to what many regional and local unions and groups demanded, pushed by the party’s bases.
The change in the Spanish government’s position on the Sahrawi issue caused a crisis within the party and the local government, and a diplomatic storm with Algeria, which withdrew its ambassador from Madrid and imposed economic sanctions on Spanish companies that had been exporting to Algeria, causing many of them to go bankrupt, according to Spanish media reports.
Socialist Party officials emphasized the need to correct the current deviation.
PM Pedro Sanchez signed in March 2022, restoring the party’s historic position in favour of holding a referendum on self-determination in the former Spanish colony, the last colonial territory in Africa, the source said, adding that the youth go even further and demand the recognition of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, in line with the decision to recognize the Palestinian state last May.
Those in favor of correcting Spain’s position cite ‘the resolutions of the United Nations and the European Court of Justice, which recognise the right of self-determination of Western Sahara and call for a referendum’.
The National Court, chaired by Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has recognised that Spain is still the administrative power in Western Sahara, supporting the judge who in September defended the mass deportation of Sahrawi migrants seeking political asylum in Spain.
The change in Madrid’s position on the Sahrawi issue has exposed the government of Pedro Sánchez to several legal challenges in parliament, each of which has survived a vote of no confidence, leading its president to refrain from any direct support for the autonomy plan in international forums (the United Nations) and in official events such as exchanges of visits.
The current moment is described as ‘ideal’ to reflect on the Sahrawi issue, especially after the three rulings issued by the European Court of Justice on 4 October against the plundering of the Sahrawi people’s wealth, in which the Court once again ‘reaffirmed the distinction between the Kingdom of Morocco and Western Sahara and ruled that the agreements concluded between the European Union and the Alawite regime should be annulled’, according to the same source quoting party officials.
Spain, as the historical administrative power of Western Sahara, ‘bears an inescapable moral and political responsibility’, suggests that Madrid resume its active role in decolonization.