Relevant agreements
Every day in the media we debate between what is important and what is interesting, and the final result is usually a combination of both aspects in order to offer as complete a picture as possible of current affairs.
In Spanish-Moroccan relations, all too often the supposedly interesting is imposed over the important. The problem in this case is that what is interesting is framed in a superlative morbidness fed by clichés and stereotypes sadly assumed for too long that have nothing to do with the current reality because one does not know Morocco or has not visited the neighbouring country for a long time. Today, old prejudices resulting from traumatic experiences and ignorant arrogance have become entrenched and old mantras about Morocco's human rights situation, freedom of the press and expression and the figure of the King are still in place.
Today's world is in turmoil in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the struggle between the United States and China and, above all, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which forces us to take sides and choose the side where we want to be and where it is in our interest to be. In the case of the member states of the European Union and NATO, unity of action against Russia does not imply a coherent convergence of actions with third countries. On the contrary, it seems that certain cross-interests lead to advantageous decisions with a certain tinge of lack of solidarity. The Italian Prime Minister has been quick to try to capture the Algerian gas that used to go to Spain. France has also moved to restore relations with an Algerian regime that makes no secret of its historic and renewed alliance with Moscow.
A few days before the High Level Meeting between the governments of Morocco and Spain, a resolution critical of the human rights situation and freedom of the press in Morocco was prepared and voted on with unusual speed and driven by various sectors of the European radical left, with some approval from Paris, according to the Rabat government. A story that could correspond much more closely to the reality of Algeria, Turkey, Iran, China, Russia, Cuba and Venezuela, which, like all of them, also have their lobbies in Brussels and the European Parliament. The fact is that an atmosphere of suspicion and disqualification is being created towards Morocco, and therefore towards the Spanish government, which in its relations with Morocco has been guilty of not explaining foreign policy decisions in Parliament and not reaching consensus with the opposition as it should have done. But this does not detract from the importance of signing agreements that are important for a strategic relationship with Morocco.