Albares does not comment on Israeli exploration in Sahrawi waters, stating that it is “outside of Spain”

Eduardo González The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, asserted this Tuesday that the extraction of oil resources by the Israeli company NewMed off the coast of Western Sahara and approximately 200 kilometers off the Canary Islands is "outside of Spain's territorial and jurisdictional waters." He once again invoked the benefits of the "new relationship" between Spain and Morocco to avoid a new thorny issue with the neighboring country. Senator Pedro Manuel San Ginés, of Coalición Canaria, stated before the plenary session of the Upper House that "each country is sovereign to do what it deems appropriate in its waters," but, he warned, "in this case, they are not Spanish waters, nor are they Moroccan waters. They are Sahrawi waters de facto occupied by the Moroccan government following this unilateral delimitation, to which the Spanish government has done nothing." He also recalled the decision of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, to unilaterally make a "Copernican turn" on the historic position that Spain has maintained, and I maintain that it maintains, in relation to the decolonization of Western Sahara, "turning its back on the majority opinion." He questioned why the Government "rightly condemns the occupation of Ukraine by Russia and that of Gaza by Israel" and, at the same time, maintains "this silence when an Israeli company goes to prospect in Sahrawi waters." He also recalled that the European Union "has annulled agreements for the exploitation of fishing resources in those same Sahrawi waters for violating international law and the rights of the Sahrawi people." In his response, Albares asserted that licenses in this area for prospecting "are systematically verified by the Government" and that "those licenses granted are outside the territorial and jurisdictional waters of Spain." "Everything that touches on that matter is a "a matter of international law that must be resolved in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea based on mutual agreement and with full respect for international law," he added. The minister also mentioned words from the President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo (Secretary General of Coalición Canaria), in which he assured that his government fully supports Spain's policy regarding the Sahara. According to Albares, the joint declaration between Madrid and Rabat in April 2022 has brought "the best climate of collaboration and cooperation with Morocco in bilateral history," which is "very beneficial for Ceuta and Melilla, for Andalusia, and, above all, for the Canary Islands." "Therefore, you should welcome, as President Clavijo does, this new relationship with Morocco," he concluded. The exploration On March 6, the Plurinational Parliamentary Group (SUMAR) (a minority partner in Pedro Sánchez's coalition government) asked the government to comment on the agreement between Morocco and NewMed to extract oil resources in waters unilaterally appropriated by Rabat in 2020, a "usurpation that has no legal validity because it is not recognized by the UN or any other international organization." Specifically, SUMAR was referring to an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) that Morocco occupied without notifying the United Nations. This EEZ, according to Coalición Canaria, belongs to Sahrawi territory, and its boundaries conflict with the EEZ claimed by the Canary Islands. The agreement, signed last January, involves the awarding of 17 high-seas permits for eight years, from south of Cape Bojador to Dakhla, in Sahrawi territory. Bojador is located just over 200 kilometers from the Canary Islands. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) established on October 4, 2024, that “any activity by any State, international organization, or company in Sahrawi waters must have the consent of the people of Western Sahara.” For his part, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs warned the UN Security Council on January 29, 2002, that contracts for oil exploitation in Western Sahara “violated the principles of international law applicable to mineral resource activities in Non-Self-Governing Territories.”

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