Bilateral relations between Spain and Morocco are going through "an excellent moment," according to both governments. Pedro Sánchez demonstrated this harmony with the Alawite kingdom at a high-level summit held this Thursday at the Moncloa Palace. The Spanish Prime Minister received his Moroccan counterpart, Aziz Akhannouch, with military honors and subsequently met with him, while six Socialist ministers also met in parallel with their Moroccan counterparts. The result was the signing of fourteen agreements on matters such as the digital transition of public administrations, natural disaster prevention, agriculture and fisheries, and the fight against extremism. In a joint statement released afterward, the Spanish president reaffirmed the controversial position that explains this rapprochement, which has been consolidating over the last three years, namely the Moncloa Palace's shift on Western Sahara. In the eighth point of the document, Sánchez "welcomes" that The UN Security Council will approve a resolution at the end of October supporting Morocco's plan. for the former Spanish colony. This text has been his only statement, as the Spanish president has avoided questions from the press - there has been no appearance whatsoever - which has prompted a complaint from professional associations about this "lack of transparency".

Next Thursday, November 20th, could be a good day to start talking seriously and calmly about things that have been postponed for over fifty years. Everything seems to indicate that this won't be the case, but you never know: the maelstrom of politics always moves in strange and unpredictable ways. The petty squabbles of political maneuvering, on the other hand, can always be seen coming an hour in advance, fifty years ago.

When Mahfud Bechri was born, there was a trunk in his home. His parents, like many other Sahrawis in the Tindouf refugee camps, had filled it with belongings so they could return to their homeland. It was 1991, and the UN had committed to holding a referendum on self-determination after agreeing to a ceasefire between the Polisario Front and Morocco, ending 16 years of war. Everything seemed to be in place for the Sahrawis to decide their future, but Rabat blocked the process, and the trunk Mahfud's parents had packed for their return gathered dust until one day it disappeared.

The European Union is attempting a new trade agreement with Morocco that includes Western Sahara. After the European Court of Justice would overthrow the previous pact Because it considered that the autonomy of the Sahrawi people had been violated, Brussels has presented to the Member States a new trade agreement with Rabat a few days before the deadline imposed by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for it to take Western Sahara into account in the pact, according to the newspaper Abc and diplomatic sources have confirmed to ARA.

Espanyol is holding an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders this Friday, in which a capital increase of almost 38 million, which will clean up the perico team and allow it to return to the 1:1 rule of the fair play of the League. As is customary at the blue and white club, it will be conducted online, and shareholders' requests and questions, previously submitted through an online platform, will be read and answered aloud by the club. This means that there will be no repeat of interventions like those of the illustrious Quimet Cañellas, which popularized the phrase "Good afternoon, my friends all." Nor violent episodes, such as the one suffered by Ernest Vilches in 2012, on November 19, when a handful of fans tried to attack him after displaying an Estelada flag with the Espanyol colors during his speaking turn at the Fira de Cornellà.

As an example of the type of decisions a statesman must make, the Coventry dilemma is often cited, which affects, of course, Winston Churchill. Although the story itself is false, it is interesting to tell it and see what relationship it may have with Spanish politics.

In a joint appearance without questions, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares and his Moroccan counterpart, Naser Burita, confirmed that the relationship between the State and the Alawite monarchy is experiencing its "best moment in history," and the underlying reason is the shift Spain took in April 202 toward autonomy (and not self-determination) over the former Spanish colony proposed by Morocco. "[The decision] marked a turning point in the relationship," Burita acknowledged this Thursday.

The relationship between Spain and Algeria is worsening two and a half months after Spain's shift in position on Western Sahara. The North African country has gone a step further this Wednesday in its protest with a double move: on the one hand, it has announced it was suspending of the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighbourliness and Cooperation with Spain, an agreement signed on October 8, 2002 by former President José María Aznar, which establishes the legal framework for bilateral relations between the two countries. Shortly thereafter, it ordered all banking operations related to imports and exports to and from Spain to be frozen as of this Thursday, according to a statement from the Professional Association of Banks and Financial Establishments (ABEF) reported by the Efe news agency. Before learning of this latest development, Spain had not considered relations to be broken, had "reaffirmed" the friendship treaty and had guaranteed the continuity of Algerian gas supplies.

Abdulah Arabi has been the Polisario Front representative in Spain since January 2020. He receives us at the headquarters of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in Madrid, a somewhat ramshackle apartment, with old furniture, but with the identifying elements of a diplomatic headquarters: the flag and the photograph of the president, Brahim Gali. Arabi does not talk as an activist but as a politician, and it is from this perspective that he is perplexed and indignant in equal parts by the step taken by Spain in relation to Western Sahara.

In 1988, 34 years ago, the United Nations initiated steps which, in 1991, led to a cease-fire and the deployment of a United Nations mission (MINURSO) in Western Sahara, whose R refers precisely to the promised referendum which has never materialized. Since 1991, moreover, Morocco has encouraged the colonisation of the Sahara in order to Moroccanize it, an old practice the world over to change the identity or ethnic composition of occupied territories, so that, over the years (now 47), time runs in Morocco's favour, both demographically and politically.

Spain sides with Morocco and for the first time supports its proposal for autonomy for Western Sahara. It thus puts an end to its neutrality in the conflict in Western Sahara. Spanish president Pedro Sánchez has sent a letter to King Mohamed, published by the Moroccan royal household, in which he accepts the formula for autonomy proposed by Morocco. He sees it as the "most serious, realistic and credible basis for the resolution" of the conflict. Morocco presented the plan to the United Nations in 2007, and it implies ditching "de facto" any prospect of independence for Western Sahara, which would remain under Rabat's authority in matters such as security.

More than 40 years after abandoning Western Sahara, Spain decided on Friday to leave behind neutrality to align itself with Morocco. These are the keys behind this diplomatic shift.