MoroccoandSpain maintain extensive diplomatic, commercial, and military ties.[1] The
Morocco–Spain border separates the
plazas de soberanía (including
Melilla and
Ceuta) on the Mediterranean coast from the Moroccan mainland. Morocco's foreign policy has focused on Western partners, including neighboring Spain.[2] Relations have, however, been historically tense and conflictive.[3][4]
In March 2023, Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, Jose Manuel Albares, stated that the Morocco-Spain relationship had achieved its new all-time high.[5]
History
Precedents
Middle Ages
Taking advantage of the disputes related to the struggle for control in the
Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania, the
Umayyad Caliphate army led by
Táriq ibn Ziyad crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in 711. This gave way to the
Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula.[6] In the years to come, the Christian rulers fought or established political or commercial relations with the Muslim rulers, gaining control over the Iberian peninsula.
The last of the Muslim territories in the Iberian peninsula was the Nasrid kingdom of Granada, which surrendered to the
Catholic Monarchs in 1492 after the
Granada War.[13] Spanish jews were
expelled, and many settled on the
Barbary Coast.
Blamed for collaborating with the
Regency of Algiers (Ottoman empire) and the
Barbary pirates which raided the spanish coasts and tarding vessels for goods and slaves, some 40,000
Moriscos arrived to Morocco after their
final expulsion in 1609. They were not well received in the Cherifian empire, as they dressed in the Spanish way, spoke Spanish and were accused of
conversion to Christianity.[14] The piracy harbour of the
Republic of Salé on the
Bou Regreg river bank was founded by Moriscos from
Hornachos, today's Badajoz. [15]
In 1612, Spanish privateers stole the
Zaydani Library, a collection of an estimated 4,000 manuscripts in literature and science belonging to Sultan
Zidan bin Ahmad of the
Saadi dynasty.[19] These manuscripts are still kept at
El Escorial.
Also, Spain occupied
Tétouan from 1859 to 1862 according to the Treaty of Wad Ras (1860), after
Abd al-Rahman found himself unable to control the moroccan
tribes which raided Ceuta´s
hinterland. As a result, Melilla´s perimeter was also broadened and the sultan recognized the Spanish right to establish a fishing port in Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña (a territory of uncertain location by that time) identified then where
Sidi Ifni now stands. In the 1860
battle of Tetuan, the Mellah, or Jewish quarter, of Tetuan was sacked.[23] This was followed by appeals in the European Jewish press to support Jewish communities like the one in Tetuan, leading to an international effort called The Morocco Relief Fund, in english.[24][n. 1][27][28] After Morocco paid the
war reparations (partially through money lent by the British), in 1862 the spanish general
Leopoldo O'Donnell retired his troops from Tétouan.[29][30]
After 1863, a Spanish diplomatic mission led by
Francisco Merry y Colom was sent to the court of the Moroccan Sultan in Marrakesh,[31]: 255 with the specific goals of the rehabilitation of Muley El-Abbás, the sultan's hispanophile brother, the fostering of commercial activity in Ceuta and Melilla by means of the creation of a custom, the opening of the Port of
Agadir to Spanish ships, facilitating the meat provision to Ceuta, and the improvement on the status of Spaniards in Morocco,[32]: 255, 313 establishing the basis for the
peacetime commercial and diplomatic relations of Spain with the Sherifian Empire.[33]: 335
In the wake of the visit of a Spanish delegation to Fez in 1877, a joint Hispano-Moroccan committee was created to determine the location of the territory of Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña,[34] retroceded in the 1860 Treaty of Wad Ras. This committee eventually misidentified Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña with
Ifni,[34] actually located about 480 kilometers north of the real fortress. The Moroccan sultan accepted the identification in 1883, even if the border delimitation did not take place at the time and the effective Spanish occupation had to wait until 1934.[34]
Moroccan territorial claims on Spanish cities of Ceuta, Melilla, territorial Canary Islands water and Plazas de Soberanía
On 6 July 2002 Spanish military operations in the
Alhucemas Islands were perceived to be an act of aggression by Morocco.[38] On 11 July 2002, the
Perejil Island crisis erupted; members of the
Royal Moroccan Navy occupied the uninhabited
Perejil Island off the North-African coast; 6 days later Spain launched the "Operation Romeo-Sierra" and 28 members of the
Special Operations Groups of the
Spanish Army took control of the islet evicting the 6 Moroccan cadets then present in the islet, who offered no resistance.[39] On 31 July-1 August 2018 Morocco indefinitely closed the Beni Ansar Customs near Melilla aiming to suffocate trade in the Spanish city.[40]
On 21 December 2020, following the affirmations of the Moroccan Prime Minister,
Saadeddine Othmani, stating that Ceuta and Melilla "are as Moroccan as the [Western]
Sahara" Spain's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Cristina Gallach urgently summoned the Moroccan Ambassador to Spain, Karima Benyaich, to convey that Spain expects respect from all its partners to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its country and asked for explanations about the words of Othmani.[41][42]
The two neighbours also have an unresolved dispute concerning territorial waters between Morocco and the Spanish
Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean.[citation needed]
On 22 April 2021, Spanish officials had announced that the Polisario Front leader
Brahim Ghali was sent to Spain for
COVID-19 hospitalization.[45] Morocco reacted with several reciprocal and retaliatory measures, including granting the pro-Catalan independence politician
Carles Puigdemont asylum on 30 April.[46]
On 14 March 2022, Sánchez sent a letter to King Mohammed VI backing Morocco's
Western Sahara Autonomy Proposal. This was a change in the official position about
self-determination as the solution to the
Western Sahara conflict. His decision was criticized by Unidas Podemos and the Spanish opposition. Sánchez visited Morocco in April 2022 and participated in an
iftar with Mohammed VI and members of his entourage.[47][48]
Illegal immigration
Morocco has received €343 million since 2018 to help it counter illegal migration.[49]
On 17 May 2021, approximately 8,000 migrants
crossed the Moroccan–Spanish border into Ceuta and Melilla passing around the
jetties of Benzú and El Tarajal, after Moroccan security forces lessened control mechanisms following the hospitalization of Brahim Ghali in Spain.[50][51][52][53][n. 2][n. 3] The Spanish military was deployed at the border to stop the influx. Morocco's actions were rejected by various officials of the European Union.[n. 4] In a cryptic manner, the Moroccan ambassador warned that "there are acts that have consequences and must be assumed" just before being recalled by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 18 June, in turn shortly after she was summoned by the Spanish foreign minister.[61]
European Commission Vice President
Margaritis Schinas warned that Europe would not "be intimidated by anyone on the subject of migration".[62] The Moroccan move was described as an instance of
coercive engineered migration[63] and a case of
grey zone operation, similarly to other asymmetrical challenges posed by Morocco underpinned by incremental and ambiguous measures below the threshold of war.[64][65]
On 22 June 2023, according to
Human Rights Watch, the victims of the horrific violence and deaths of asylum seekers and migrants at the border in 2022 between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of
Melilla didn't get justice.[66] Both countries were reported to have further agreed to cooperate on repatriations of illegal migrants.[67]
The Spanish government is preparing to transfer the management of the airspace over the desert to Morocco after decades of it being managed by the state-owned company under the Spanish Ministry of Transport, operating from the air traffic control center in the Canary Islands. This move follows a joint announcement issued on April 7, 2022, after a meeting between Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and King Mohammed VI in Rabat, which signaled the start of "discussions on airspace management."[68][69] The step is linked to the positive developments that have colored the bilateral relations between Spain and Morocco, reinforcing their partnerships on all levels and affirming the sovereignty of the Kingdom over the Western Sahara. Concurrently with the visit of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to Rabat and the reception given to him by Moroccan King Mohammed VI, during which he reiterated Spain's supportive stance for autonomy, the "Confidencial Digital" newspaper mentioned that the government is moving towards handing over the management of the airspace over the Western Sahara region to the Kingdom of Morocco.[70]
Trade agreements
In the past, the failure to reach a deal for fisheries between the European Union and Morocco in 2001 complicated the relations between
José María Aznar and Mohammed VI.[38]
Morocco's
Tanger Med near
Tangier will pose competition that concerns Spanish ports. It was expected to achieve full capacity in 2014 at 5.5 million containers annually.[71]
At a February 2023 Summit in
Rabat, Spain and Morocco subsequently signed a series of multiple agreements to boost trade and investment, including credit lines of up to 800 million euros ($873 million).
Counterterrorrism and counternarcotics cooperation
According to the 2021 INE statistics, Moroccans are the largest immigration community in Spain with 930,221 citizens residing in the country. Moroccans in Spain live mainly in
Barcelona,
Madrid and
Murcia.[72]
^Addressing the leader of the parliamentary opposition, Sánchez stated that "Spain is suffering a challenge from Morocco", wondering where the opposition stood at.[54]
^Minor member of the coalition government, Unidas Podemos, accused Morocco of "diplomatic blackmail".
^such as the
Prime Minister of Slovenia, who tweeted (in Spanish) "The Spanish border of #Ceuta is a European border. Full solidarity with Spain.",[55] the
President of the European CommissionUrsula von der Leyen, who said that "Europe expresses its solidarity with Ceuta and Spain. We need common European solutions to manage migration. We can do this by reaching an agreement on the new Migration Pact.",[56] the
High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security PolicyJosep Borrell "Ceuta is the European border with Morocco, and the EU will do what is necessary to support Spain in these difficult times.",[57] the
President of the European CouncilCharles Michel, who tweeted "All our support and solidarity with Spain @sanchezcastejon. The borders of Spain are the borders of the European Union. Cooperation, trust and shared commitments should be the principles of a strong relationship between the European Union and Morocco."[58] and the European Commissioner of Migrations
Margaritis Schinas, claiming that "The Spanish border of #Ceuta is a European border. Full solidarity with Spain. We now need the European Migration Policy Pact: agreements with third countries; a robust protection of our borders; solidarity between the Member States, and a policy of legal migration."[59][60]
^López Alvarez, Ana María (2003). La comunidad judía de Tetuán, 1881-1940 : onomástica y sociología en el libro de registro de circuncisiones del rabino Yiṣḥaq Bar Vid Al Haṣerfaty [The Jewish community of Tetouan, 1881-1940: onomastics and sociology in Rabbi Yiṣḥaq Bar Vid Al Haṣerfaty's record book on circumcisions]. Toledo, Spain: Museo Sefardi. p. 80.
ISBN978-8436936803.
OCLC55502651.
^Tessler, Mark A. (1994). A History of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 29.
ISBN978-0253358486.
OCLC28799186.