Spain is preparing for the reopening of borders with Morocco in the occupied enclaves of Sebta and Melillia. Pedro Sachez’s government is reportedly studying how to impose its own law on Morocco, considering customs taxation and the option of entry into the Schengen area.
Despite some warming, the diplomatic crisis between Rabat and Madrid is still relevant, as evidenced by several elements that demonstrate that Morocco has still not passed the sponge on the episode of shenanigans with Algeria and the Polisario, as well. than its position hostile to the sovereignty of Morocco over the Sahara.
And while Spain believed that relations would resume their normal course after the dismissal of the former Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha Laya Gonzales following the Brahim Ghali affair, the closure of the borders with the two occupied enclaves , by Morocco drags on and worries the Spanish side.
The socialist government of Pedro Sanchez, which initiated the crisis between the two kingdoms, has still not resolved to settle the dispute and intends to go further in its response “against” Morocco. The Spanish executive seeks to impose an overhaul of trade, socio-economic and border control relations in the form of a border model in which Morocco will not have a say.
The executive created a special commission comprising at least 6 representatives of the different ministries involved to prepare the reopening of the borders of Sebta and Melillia, according to Spanish government sources quoted by the newspaper El Pais.
The departments concerned are those of the head of government, Territorial Policy, the Interior, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Health, but also the secret services, indicates the same source.
For its part, the Moroccan government, which closed its borders with the two enclaves occupied since the start of the health crisis, has not reopened them since, even if the air and sea spaces have been between Morocco and France. ‘Mainland Spain. These borders have been closed for almost two years.
According to Madrid’s estimates, the borders with Sebta and Melillia would not be reopened by Rabat until the second quarter of 2022. And it is in this sense that the Spanish authorities intend to take advantage of this time to adapt in their own way the future rules which should govern the flow of commerce and people between the two territories.
In Spain, concerns were created after noting the hardening of the Moroccan position on the Sahara, especially since the case of Brahim Ghali, perceived as a dagger in the back. A Moroccan position which no longer tolerates double play and which has weighed the Moroccan Sahara as a sine qua non condition of any new trade agreement with its partners.
But also, since the proliferation of unfriendly gestures by the Sanchez government, Spain has witnessed the putting back on the table of the file of sovereignty over the occupied cities, something which is not done when relations are good, according to the reading. of the former Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs José Manuel García-Margallo.
Fearing a migration crisis like that of last summer and because of the economic dependence on Morocco of the two cities, the socialist government poses before it several options to thwart Morocco.
In its plans, Spain intends to continue its barbed wire fence, install facial recognition cameras, drastically reduce the flow of people despite the economic consequences for the inhabitants of the two enclaves. And the options considered could harm the already degraded relations with Morocco even more.
Madrid “will no longer tolerate” the contraband trade which earns the two cities between 600 and 800 million euros per year for Sebta and around 500 million in Mellilia.
This contraband trade benefits the two occupied cities since more than 70% of their imports from Spain, Europe or Asia are intended to be resold in Morocco through the inhuman entry system imposed by Spain. to Moroccans, also known as “mule women”.
Conversely, the imports of the two cities, from Morocco, amount to less than 1% for Melillia for example and officially, they do not export to Morocco for less than a million euros per year, which is far real numbers.
Faced with this very advantageous trade for Spain, the Sanchez government wants to test even more the limits of Morocco’s tolerance by seeking to impose commercial customs for this unbalanced flow, with the ambition of taxing exported products and earn even more at the exchange. For its part, the two cities will import only fruits and vegetables.
Entry into the Customs Union is another option Spain is considering even if it would cause them to lose their tax benefits. Finally, the most delicate option would be the entry of the two occupied cities into the Schengen area, which would require residents of neighboring Moroccan cities to enter with a visa.
The option had already been put on the table this summer, on a proposal from the Secretary of State for the EU of the Foreign Ministry, Juan González-Barba, and had estimated that such a proposal would require a national consensus. It should also be accepted by other members of the Schengen area.
This measure could materialize if it is supported by France, the country which holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union for the next 6 months. French President Emmanuel Macron has indeed made the reform of the Schengen area a priority.
The president’s stated objective, the protection of European women against the migratory “threat”, by recalling the two crises which the Old Continent had to face, that of the shipwreck of migrants in the Channel and the crisis with Poland and Belarus. .
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