The RAN with Morocco once again highlights the division in the Government

Sánchez will take a dozen ministers to the appointment, among whom there will be none from United We Can

MADRID, 29 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The summit with Morocco next week will once again highlight the division in the government coalition on foreign policy issues, with the absence of all the ministers of Unidas Podemos from the appointment to which Pedro Sánchez will be accompanied by a dozen ministers .

The High Level Meeting (RAN) between the two countries, the first since 2015, seals the new stage in the relationship that began after the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, transferred King Mohamed VI, whom Spain considers the autonomy plan for the Sahara as "the most solid, credible and realistic basis" for a solution to the conflict.

This step, which made it possible to recover a relationship frozen by the reception in Spain of the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, and the position regarding the Sahara, was harshly rejected from United We Can, placing the minority partner on the same side as the PP in the rejection to what is considered a turn in a historical policy.

This difference in position regarding the question of the former Spanish colony has continued in recent months and has once again become evident after learning that the summit would take place on February 1 and 2.

Thus, the second vice president and head of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, the Minister of Social Rights and leader of Podemos, Ione Belarra, and the head of Consumption and federal coordinator of IU, Alberto Garzón, made it known that they would not attend.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, downplayed these absences, defending that all the ministers never go to summits with other countries, but rather it depends on the planned agenda.

"Those ministers who have issues to discuss with their Moroccan counterparts will go to Rabat," he stressed, while indicating that the forecast is that Sánchez will be accompanied by a dozen ministers.

Added to this is the presence of members of Podemos and Izquierda Unida at the recent Polisario Front congress in the Tindouf refugee camps (Algeria) in which Brahim Ghali was re-elected as Secretary General, with which they wanted to make it clear their support for the Saharawi cause against Morocco.

On the other hand, the disagreement regarding the policy towards Morocco has caused another unexpected event: the PSOE vote against a resolution in the European Parliament in which Morocco was criticized and its possible involvement in bribing MEPs was pointed out.

From the PSOE it was argued that the vote against was "responsible and in favor of frank bilateral relations based on dialogue and understanding" with the Alaouite kingdom, denying that it was detrimental to the Government's commitment to the defense of Human Rights. Humans.

For his part, Sánchez only limited himself to saying that the PSOE did not share "some elements" of the resolution and when this week several parliamentary spokesmen asked him for explanations for the direction of the vote of the Socialist MEPs, the President of the Government limited himself to highlighting the benefits of the new stage in the relationship with Morocco.

"It is convenient for us to maintain the best of relations, not only for Spain but for the EU," he said, arguing in this sense that trade with Morocco increased by 33% last year to reach almost 10,000 million and the reduction in arrivals of irregular immigrants.

According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, he indicated, the reduction has been 26%, while according to Frontex the reduction in arrivals to Andalusia was 21% and to the Canary Islands 31%. "Of all the migratory routes to Europe, the only one that has decreased is that from Morocco to Spain," he said.