Morocco and Algeria are closely following the positions of PSOE and PP in the face of 23J

The press of both countries replicates the statements by Sánchez and Feijóo on the bilateral relationship and the Sahara

MADRID, 2 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The declarations of the main leaders of PSOE and PP in view of the elections on July 23 have two very interested foreign spectators: Morocco and Algeria. In both countries, everything that is said about them and about the future of diplomatic relations is closely followed because of how it may affect them.

Both the Moroccan and Algerian press always closely follow what is happening in Spain and what has to do with their interests, especially as a result of the diplomatic crisis experienced between Madrid and Rabat, later overcome with the turn with respect to the Sahara and the support for the Moroccan autonomy plan, which in turn triggered a crisis with Algiers.

In recent weeks, after the decision of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to advance the elections to July 23, the interest is even greater since in Morocco there is concern that an eventual victory of the PP will cause a retreat in support for the plan of autonomy for the Sahara as "the most solid, credible and realistic basis" for a solution, while in Algeria it would be viewed with good eyes if this happened.

Neither the Moroccan nor the Algerian government have spoken in public about the appointment with the polls in Spain and about how its eventual result could benefit or harm them, something common in diplomacy, since the opposite could be seen as interference in a matter which is internal.

However, the press of both countries constantly echoes everything that has to do with Morocco and Algeria. In the case of the Alaouite press, particularly if it is in favor of its interests and its position regarding the Moroccanness of the Sahara or against its archenemy Algeria, and in the case of the Algerian one if it is to put Morocco in a bad light or points to a change from the current frozen relations.

Thus, everything that Sánchez and his Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, say, on the one hand, and what the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and other senior officials of his party, on the other, are looked at with a magnifying glass in particular. , with respect to what is its position in regard to these two neighboring countries with which there are historical relations not exempt from ups and downs but which are strategic for Spain.

In this sense, the Moroccan press has not ignored the fact that Sánchez reaffirmed in his interview with Jordi Évole his decision to support the Moroccan autonomy plan for the Sahara, which he justified by the lack of progress to resolve a conflict that was dates back five decades, and his refusal to characterize Morocco as an absolutist monarchy.

Likewise, the Yabiladi portal has recalled that the Executive also discredited the second vice president and now candidate for Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, when she said that the Alaouite kingdom was a "dictatorship" a few months ago.

Precisely, the appointment of the diplomat Agustín Santos as 'number two' on the Sumar list for Madrid has also generated a lot of interest in the neighboring country, given the criticism that has been leveled against him for his supposed pro-Moroccan position from Saharawi organizations.

Thus, for example, the aforementioned outlet highlighted that after the "euphoria" over the fact that Díaz had chosen the Sahrawi activist Tesh Sidi as "number three", "disappointment" had come over the election of Santos, who was head of Cabinet of Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos and the person in charge of managing the case of the Saharawi activist Aminetu Haidar, expelled by Morocco to Spain in 2009.

But since the Government's position is well known, and both from Moncloa and from Foreign Affairs they have strived at all times to value the benefits of the new stage in the relationship with Morocco that has brought with it a reduction in immigration and an increase of commerce, what is most interesting both in Rabat and in Algiers is what is said from the PP.

In this sense, several Algerian media have collected in recent weeks a video taken from the interview that Ana Pastor did in El Objetivo with the leader of the PP in September 2022. In it, Feijóo assured that if he were president, the first thing he would do would be to try restore relations with Algeria.

Also, for example, the newspaper 'Echourouk', placed special emphasis on the rejection expressed by the opposition leader regarding Sánchez's turn on the Sahara for breaking with the traditional position of Spain and that motivated the crisis with Algeria, which in June 2022 suspended the Friendship Treaty, and also noted that among the names that sounded like Foreign Minister if the PP wins is Esteban González Pons, "a person very close to Algeria."

Meanwhile, in Morocco, they are trying to read between the lines in Feijóo's statements regarding the position he will adopt regarding the Sahara and whether there will be a reversal of what Sánchez decided.

The leader of the PP has been shielding himself at all times when he has been asked about it in which he is unaware of the terms in which that position was adopted and the agreements that have been reached with Morocco since then, first in the meeting with King Mohamed VI on April 7, 2022 and then at the High Level Meeting (RAN) in February this year in Rabat.

That was his response in a recent interview on Cadena Ser, which was echoed by the local media. According to what he said, when he met with the Moroccan Prime Minister, Aziz Ajanuch, in May 2022 in Rotterdam, he asked him if he was going to maintain the agreements of the current government and he told him that he did not know what they were, so they did not continue talking about the matter. .