Moroccan Regime’s Provocative Position Against Algeria From Spain

Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita exploited his meeting with his Spanish counterpart, José Manuel Albares, to undermine the return to normal relations between Algeria and Madrid. This was nearly two years after a severe diplomatic crisis following Spain’s shift in position on the Western Sahara issue.

At a joint press conference in the Spanish capital, the Foreign Minister of the Alaouite Kingdom sent coded messages to Algeria, full of impudence and provocation, and embarrassment to the Spanish side. He said, “Not everyone is happy with the current level of Moroccan-Spanish relations,” implicitly referring to Algeria.

The intention of the Alawite official is revealed in the following statement: “There are those who want to turn this relationship into an element of political debate or a subject of outbidding, or to throw it back to a time of conflict and problems. But the will of the leadership in both countries, and the real actors involved, lays the foundations that prevent a regression.” Rabat’s Foreign Minister goes too far when he uses the term “informants,” referring to a third party seeking to destroy his country’s relations with the Kingdom of Spain, as he claimed.

The Spanish foreign minister’s remarks indicate that he is attempting to place the blame for the crisis in Spanish-Moroccan relations in 2021 on a third party, Algeria. Even though everyone knows that the cause of the crisis lies in the Moroccan regime’s involvement in spying, using the sionist Pegasus spyware, on the phones of several senior officials in its northern neighbor, including Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Minister of Foreign Affairs José Manuel Albares, Interior Minister Fernando Grande Marlaska Gomez, and Defense Minister Margarita Robles.

Algerian-Spanish relations entered a dark tunnel more than three years ago, following the shift in Spain’s position on the Western Sahara issue. This led to the withdrawal of the ambassador from Madrid and the imposition of painful economic sanctions on the Spanish side, which were only lifted about a year ago.

The Spanish Foreign Minister’s statements violated diplomatic norms, as they were made from the platform of a host country that had recently restored relations with Algeria. This represents a major embarrassment for the Madrid government, which has expended significant efforts and considerable time to restore its relations with Algeria after its economic institutions, which export to Algeria, incurred heavy losses for nearly two years of the crisis.

A similar incident involving the Moroccan regime previously led to the severing of diplomatic relations. This refers to statements made by the sionist entity’s Foreign Minister, Yair Lapid, more than four years ago, in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, during a joint conference with his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita. He attacked Algeria in an unprecedented manner that had never occurred in any Arab or Islamic country.

It is well known that this shameful incident, which implicated the Moroccan regime, was among the reasons that prompted the Algerian authorities to sever diplomatic relations with Rabat in the summer of 2021. They also imposed painful economic sanctions, such as halting the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline, which exported Algerian gas to Spain via Moroccan territory. The Alawite regime benefited from this pipeline by gaining a certain rate of the gas, along with millions of dollars in fees for the pipeline’s passage through Moroccan territory.

Although the Algerian authorities have not commented on the indirect provocations issued by a senior official in the Alawite regime, this will not go unnoticed and will be considered an unfriendly act by the Spanish side, which could affect the recovery of bilateral relations.