SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 26 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, announced this Tuesday in Parliament that the Minister of the Interior, José Manuel Albares, will visit the Islands in the coming weeks to explain Pedro Sánchez’s letter to the King of Morocco, in which Spain is in favor of autonomy for the Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty.
This has been advanced by the Canarian president in a parliamentary appearance, at the request of the Canarian Nationalist Group, on the scope and repercussions for the Canary Islands of the new relations between Spain and Morocco.
In his speech, Ángel Víctor Torres said that the resumption of the Spanish-Moroccan commission is “positive news” so that Spain and Morocco, with the participation of the Canary Islands, officially sit down with a view, among other things, to “the agreement immigration is the best possible, to delimit the waters or to improve trade relations with a neighboring country”.
Ángel Víctor Torres advanced, as he did in the control session of the Government this morning, that from next week the Spanish-Moroccan commission will be reactivated with specific commissions in which, when Canarian issues are dealt with, there will be a group of work in the Canary Islands. “Therefore, we will not be there as spectators,” added the president.
Regarding the letter from the President of the Government to the King of Morocco and his position regarding Western Sahara, Torres wanted to make it clear that the route of the proposal made by Pedro Sánchez will be equal to “zero” if there is no agreement between the two parties , that is, between the Polisario Front and the kingdom of Morocco. Along with this, he considered that the most important thing would be for the United Nations envoy to “finally” achieve a definitive agreement between both parties to end a 50-year conflict.
A MESSAGE OF TRANQUILITY.
In relation to prospecting, Ángel Víctor Torres reiterated that the Government of the Canary Islands is “strongly” opposed to these being carried out not only in Canarian waters, but even in Moroccan waters, and added that the Spanish-Moroccan commission will be the Ministry of Ecological Transition of the Government of Spain to ensure, in the event of prospecting, international legality and maximum environmental protection.
The head of the Executive also wanted to send a message of calm to Canarian society and insisted that the surveys, if carried out, will not be carried out in Canarian or Saharawi waters, but in Moroccan waters, and clarified that at this time no they are drilling, but analysis and research.
COMPLEX RELATIONSHIPS.
For his part, the spokesman for the Canarian Nationalist Group, José Miguel Barragán, pointed out that relations between Spain and Morocco “have always been complex and not exempt from significant tensions” and warned that “they will continue to be so”.
José Miguel Barragán also stressed that Moroccan diplomacy “knows how to play with the weakness of Spain’s African foreign policy and has known how to exert pressure at its convenience when it has considered that the situation required it.”
However, he pointed out that the CC-PNC continues to share that Morocco “is and must continue to be” a priority partner for Spain and the Canary Islands. For this reason, he transferred to the Canarian Government a total of 24 proposals, in seven areas of action, where the nationalists propose, for example, that the Canarian Executive continue to be “firm” and maintain the traditional Canarian position regarding the right to self-determination of the Sahara.
SPANISH SOVEREIGNTY.
The spokesman for the Mixed Group, Ricardo Fernández de la Puente, reported that Ciudadanos (Cs) has registered a battery of questions for the Government of Spain to inform the Congress of Deputies if it has obtained any type of guarantee, in writing, of that Morocco renounces questioning Spanish sovereignty over Ceuta, Melilla and the Canarian territorial waters.
Casimiro Curbelo, spokesman for the Gomera Socialist Group Parliamentary Group, highlighted the importance of the Canarian presence in the Spanish-Moroccan commission and, above all, the agreements that can be reached within it, for example, in the delimitation of waters.
Deputy Manuel Marrero stated that Sí Podemos Canarias cannot accept “neither the blackmail nor the fait accompli policies” of the Kingdom of Morocco, nor “the expansionist and territorial desires” over the Archipelago and its waters, and warned that its intention to take Prospecting carried out puts marine biodiversity, the coasts or the desalination of water in the Canary Islands in “serious danger”.
For this reason, he asked the president to continue “firmly” in defending the interests of the Archipelago before the kingdom of Morocco and to continue demanding this from the State Government.
On behalf of the Nueva Canarias Group, Luis Campos defended the need to reestablish relations with any country, including Morocco, but stressed that this reestablishment “never ever and under no circumstances” can be done to the detriment of other peoples nor to “any He passed”. He also reiterated the need to continue demanding the delimitation of the median, which would guarantee “once and for all” to define who belongs to which strip of sea.
From the popular ranks, Manuel Domínguez indicated that this is a matter of such importance that Ángel Víctor Torres should achieve “no longer being the only regional president who has not been officially received at Moncloa”. “It is time for Pedro Sánchez to listen to him, attend to him, not by Whatsapp or by colleague relationships, but to have a direct and serious relationship (…) They have left him aside and they have left all of us aside canaries,” he snapped.
In this regard, Ángel Víctor Torres denied that he is the only regional president who has not been officially received by Pedro Sánchez, and wanted to make it clear that he prefers, “before the photo”, to maintain a “permanent” relationship like the one he has with the President of the Government, even “to have differences”.
Finally, Nayra Alemán, from the Socialist Parliamentary Group, emphasized that diplomacy “is much more important and serious than a joke in the plenary hall, since it saves rights and saves lives, so respect for that diplomacy.” According to the deputy, diplomatic relations have to be the general rule not only with other countries, but also with Morocco, “if we want different results from those of up to now”.
