The Diplomat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reminded the Government of Morocco that Spain “belongs to the EU” and, therefore, any border crisis related to the Southern Neighborhood “is Europeanized almost by default”.
This is how official sources of the Ministry responded yesterday to the latest declarations of the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, in which he affirmed that the resolution approved last Thursday by the European Parliament – in which Rabat’s strategy is rejected, especially the use of minors and the issue of migration, to pressure Spain – is “a useless attempt to Europeanize a bilateral crisis whose genesis is known and whose responsibilities are well defined”.
According to the aforementioned sources, the dimension of this crisis is “by European necessity, practically by default and independently of the opinions of third parties”. “Spain belongs to the EU and it is inevitable that any relationship with its Southern Neighbors be Europeanized”, they added. The resolution of the European Parliament also warns that “Ceuta is an external border of the Union whose protection and security concerns the Union as a whole”.
Precisely, the House of Representatives of Morocco has warned, in a statement, that Ceuta is an occupied Moroccan city and that the motion adopted by the European Parliament is based on “falsehoods” and is “a maneuver to divert attention from a political crisis between Morocco and Spain”. “The European Parliament has been instrumentalized by a few MEPs who ignore the important partnership between Morocco and the European Union”, despite which “many MEPs did not support this approach,” he added. The motion, tabled by Popular, Socialist, Liberal and Green MEPs, was adopted with 397 votes in favor, 85 against and 196 abstentions.
