Congress urges the Government to guarantee Spanish management of Western Sahara’s airspace

Eduardo González The Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee has urged the Government to guarantee Spanish management of Western Sahara's airspace through ENAIRE, the public business entity that manages air traffic in Spain, and under the supervision of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). This is stated in the Non-Law Proposal presented on March 28 by the People's Party Parliamentary Group and approved on its own terms on May 6 by the Foreign Affairs Committee, as reported this week in the Official Gazette of Congress. The motion recalls that Spain has managed the airspace of Western Sahara ("a non-autonomous territory pending decolonization, according to the UN") since 1976, through ENAIRE, under ICAO mandate. "This control has made it possible to guarantee the safety, stability, and operational capacity of air traffic in the region, in accordance with international regulations," it added. The airspace over Western Sahara is controlled from the Canary Islands, and therefore, Spain is responsible for authorizing flights arriving in the territory. However, the territory's airports are controlled by Morocco, which has militarily occupied the former Spanish colony since 1975. Last December, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, assured the Congress of Deputies, in response to a question from EH Bildu MP Jon Iñarritu, that Spain has no intention of ceding Western Sahara's airspace to Morocco. However, the text continues, "following the unilateral change in position by the President of the Government (Pedro Sánchez) regarding Western Sahara, which supports Morocco's autonomy plan and breaks with the active neutrality maintained by all governments, deep concern has arisen, particularly regarding the management of airspace." According to the PP, "the opacity and lack of explanations regarding the bilateral negotiations have generated uncertainty about the possibility of Spain handing over management of this strategic space without offering security guarantees or benefits for our country." April 2022 Declaration For example, the PP recalls that in the joint declaration signed by Pedro Sánchez and King Mohammed VI on April 7, 2022, "it was agreed to open a dialogue on the management of Western Sahara's airspace through the creation of an air cooperation working group." "Since then, this group has met without the Government providing information on the scope of these negotiations or on the impact they could have on air traffic management," the main opposition party laments. Likewise, during the 12th High-Level Meeting between Spain and Morocco, held on February 1 and 2, 2023, "the Government signed agreements in various areas, including civil aviation," but "has avoided specifying whether these talks addressed the possibility of transferring airspace management to Morocco." “Although the Government insists that these meetings seek to improve technical cooperation, the possibility that Morocco could eventually assume control of Western Sahara's airspace has not been ruled out, which would pose a serious problem from the perspective of international law,” since “any transfer of powers over its airspace management without the support of the ICAO would entail a flagrant violation of international law and would amount to an implicit recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the territory,” warns the PP. The People’s Party also recalls that the European Commission has reiterated that “aviation agreements between the EU and Morocco cannot apply to Western Sahara without explicit consent, so any attempt to transfer management of this airspace without an appropriate legal framework could lead to conflicts with Brussels and international civil aviation organizations.” The PP also regrets “the lack of transparency on the part of the Government” in this matter, which prevents “understanding the operational, economic, and strategic impact” of a potential transfer. “Spain has so far maintained an efficient and secure air control system, regulated by international standards, and any alteration to this structure must be carried out with complete transparency and ensuring the stability of commercial and military air traffic,” it warns. “Ceding over management of Western Sahara's airspace to Morocco without due parliamentary debate, without legal guarantees, and without transparency would be a betrayal of Spain's interests and a serious precedent in Spanish foreign policy,” the People's Party added. Inform Congress For all these reasons, the Non-Law Proposal approved by the Foreign Affairs Committee urges the Government to “guarantee the maintenance of Spanish management of Western Sahara's airspace, through ENAIRE, and to continue carrying out this work under the supervision of the ICAO” and to “immediately inform the Congress of the terms of the negotiations with Morocco on the management of Western Sahara's airspace.” It also requests that "any modification to the management of Western Sahara's airspace be subject to parliamentary debate and supported by the relevant international organizations" and urges the Executive to "request the ICAO to ratify that Spain must continue to manage Western Sahara's airspace, in compliance with its mandate and international regulations, preventing any transfer of powers that violates the current legal framework."

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