Pedro Sánchez firmly defends that Ukraine will have to select its long term, however since March 2022 he helps Morocco’s plan to disclaim self-determination to the Sahrawi other folks. Explanation why: Spain wishes Rabat for migration and safety. The price: you lose credibility while you observe world legislation selectively.
The variation is obviously noticed within the dying of Lahbib Mohamed Abdelaziz, the chief of the Polisario Entrance and the son of the ancient Sahrawi chief, in a drone assault recorded on June 7, which the Polisario attributes to Morocco.
The episode took place simply because the UN Secretary Common’s envoy for the Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, was once visiting the refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria. The distinction is symbolic: whilst the sector negotiates, the warfare stays lively.
Villa de Smara, in Tindouf camps. Jordi Navas. The function of Spain
For Spain, this factor isn’t a international drawback. It was once the territory’s administrative authority till February 1976 and its departure left the method ready to select its long term. Because of this, each motion of Madrid within the Sahara has a political, criminal and ethical weight that can’t be in comparison with different Eu nations. Spain isn’t speaking about a far off disaster: it’s in large part speaking about its personal ancient accountability.
So why did Sanchez come to a decision to switch the standard Spanish place? The solution lies no longer in a single issue, however in a mixture of a number of.
The primary is the strategic dating with Morocco. Rabat is a key spouse of Spain in migration keep watch over, police cooperation and the struggle towards terrorism, in addition to in industry and effort problems. In observe, the normalization of family members with Morocco changed into a concern for the chief after the diplomatic disaster in 2021, when Moroccan government allowed the mass access of greater than 10,000 other folks around the Ceuta border in retaliation for the hospitalization of Polisario chief Brahim Gali in Spain.
A sensible plan, however legally questionable
The trade changed into authentic in March 2022, with a letter despatched by means of Sánchez to King Mohammed VI. In it, the Spanish president thought to be the Moroccan autonomy plan “the most serious, credible and realistic basis” for resolving the struggle. With that call, Madrid sought to revive bilateral family members, which it thought to be the most important for the stableness of Ceuta, Melilla, the Canary Islands and the southern border basically. From the common sense of energy, the verdict is comprehensible. From criminal common sense, it’s a lot more arguable.
That is the place the contradiction seems. Spain invokes world legislation to sentence the Russian career of Ukrainian territories and to call for appreciate for the civilian inhabitants in different conflicts. However within the Sahara it accepts an answer which, as proposed by means of Morocco, does no longer permit the Sahrawis to workout their proper to self-determination; the similar proper that Answer 690 of the UN Safety Council, authorized in 1991, already known to the Saharan other folks and that motivated the introduction of MINURSO, the UN undertaking in control of organizing the referendum that was once by no means held.
In different phrases, the primary is strongly defended in some eventualities and relativized in others.
This distinction weakens Spain’s exterior credibility. Now not as a result of all conflicts are similar, however since the language of rules loses its drive when carried out selectively. And that selectivity does no longer cross overlooked. Algeria, which helps Polisario, understands this. Many African and Latin American nations understand this. And this could also be understood by means of the ones within Spain who nonetheless see within the Sahara an unresolved ancient debt.
Additionally, the present second provides some other uncomfortable component: Spain needs to seem as a rustic that is helping to achieve an settlement, however its place strikes it clear of being noticed as impartial. Madrid has hosted related conferences at the struggle, even promoted with the strengthen of america and the UN in February 2026, however on the similar time some of the events – the Polisario – is aware of that the Spanish govt has already taken the Moroccan proposal as a concern. This boundaries his margin as a reputable interlocutor.
A Sahrawi girl watches the horizon whilst status in an deserted tank in Tifariti (Western Sahara). Jordi Navas. Technological and uneven battle
Added to all that is the trade within the very nature of the struggle. The dying of Lahbib Mohamed Abdelaziz in a drone assault reminds us that the Sahara has additionally entered a technological and uneven warfare. Morocco has Turkey’s Bairaktar drones, China’s Wing Loong and Israeli era, whilst the Polisario has no efficient countermeasures. This disparity reinforces the world temptation to easily settle for an answer that consolidates present keep watch over: that of Morocco, and replaces self-determination on a rhetorical stage.
In October 2025, the UN Safety Council counseled the Moroccan plan for the primary time as a foundation for negotiations, including new world weight to Spain’s place.
When world legislation serves as a wild card
However this is precisely the crux of the issue. If the world neighborhood, and Spain specifically, accepts that steadiness is value greater than legislation, the message is obvious: world legislation is carried out when handy and put aside when it will get in the way in which. The Sahrawi case thus turns into greater than a forgotten struggle: it turns into an uncomfortable reflect of Spanish international coverage.
The query, subsequently, isn’t just why Sanchez modified his perspective. The fundamental query is what worth Spain is prepared to pay for that call: in coherence, in credibility and in ancient reminiscence. As a result of it’s something to hunt an invaluable dating with Morocco, and rather some other to think that application justifies giving up a theory that during different eventualities is gifted as inalienable. If world legislation is really legitimate, it will have to be carried out even if it’s tricky. If no longer, it isn’t value it.
