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Albares denies changes regarding the position on the Sahara and says that it should not be repeated "like a litany"

The minister says that the Government has "the hand outstretched" to Algeria but it takes "two" for a relationship.

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Albares denies changes regarding the position on the Sahara and says that it should not be repeated "like a litany"

The minister says that the Government has "the hand outstretched" to Algeria but it takes "two" for a relationship

MADRID, 26 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has denied that there has been a change in Spain's position regarding Western Sahara after the speech given by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and has maintained that it is necessary to repeat it as "a litany".

In an informative breakfast organized by Europa Press, Albares has downplayed the fact that Sánchez did not mention Spain's support for Morocco's autonomy plan for the Sahara in his speech before the UN General Assembly.

"It is not about making a kind of litany, verse by verse," he defended, assuring that Sánchez "did not say anything that he had not said in recent months or that was not in the letter" that he sent to Mohamed VI in which stated that the autonomy plan presented in 2007 is "the most solid base" to resolve the dispute.

What the president did at the UN is to say that "the solution has to be political and mutually acceptable" within the framework of the United Nations and that "is not something new" but rather the government has said it "many times" in these months , has insisted.

In this sense, he stressed that the declaration of April 7 signed during the president's visit to Rabat "is in force and is the roadmap" on which the new stage in the bilateral relationship is based and that in fact "the delivering on all points."

Albares has highlighted at this point that during his meeting with his Moroccan counterpart, Naser Burita, last week in New York, the will to continue advancing on this path and to hold the High Level Meeting before the end of the year was confirmed, to be possible in November, as well as that the passage of goods to Ceuta and Melilla, through the expected customs, takes place "at the beginning of the year, around the month of January".

With regard to Algeria, the minister once again reiterated the Government's desire to have the best relations with this country given the friendship that both peoples profess and based on the same parameters as those with other neighboring countries and with the Arab countries, of mutual benefit and respect and on the basis of non-interference in internal affairs.

"From the first day the hand of Spain has been extended" to Algeria, the minister stressed, but "it takes two to forge a relationship", he acknowledged. Thus, it has made it clear that the Government will not give up its "effort" to recover the relationship with Algeria, which withdrew its ambassador in March as a result of Spain's support for the autonomy plan for the Sahara and in June suspended the Treaty of friendship.

As on previous occasions, Albares has referred to the need for discretion in diplomacy so as not to reveal if there is dialogue with Algeria and has recognized that some commercial operations continue to be blocked.

"I hope there will be a normalization of trade just as I hope there will be a normalization of relations", he concluded, after making the PP ugly for the "frivolity" with which, in his opinion, it is dealing with the crisis with Algeria despite the fact that "what is in games are the interests of Spain".