In Spain, internal issues do not allow us to see what is happening around us. The current context has placed the South of the Mediterranean in the crosshairs of all the great powers (United States, China, Russia…) in a movement that, although it was already underway for a long time, has accelerated with the war from Ukraine. While the West neglects the relationship with the African continent, Russia and China deepen the relationship.
Reglobalization is generating a change in the distribution of world economic power, with the emergence of new powers and the strengthening of existing ones. And to compete in this context, countries must form alliances and establish agreements with their neighbors that allow the creation of new economic spaces. The African continent will be home to a quarter of the world’s population by 2050 and hosts vast natural areas and resources, with 30 percent of key mineral raw materials for the energy transition and digital development. It is also an area with significant oil and gas reserves, the future breadbasket of the world, although a lack of infrastructure, security challenges and the game of geopolitics have long prevented the growth of African exports. The West’s interest in Africa should have started a long time ago: there are plenty of reasons to strengthen relations and reestablish alliances.
Faced with this situation, the United States has once again looked at Africa and it does so by acknowledging its decisive role on the international scene. And he does it through Morocco. In the new White House strategy, the continent becomes an important geopolitical force in response to the growing influence of China and Russia in the area, with Morocco as a privileged partner. Morocco has notorious influence within the African continent and the US administrations identify it as a country that projects stability in the region. The United States and Russia, through Ukraine, now measure their forces in the Mediterranean.
Europe and Spain cannot be left behind. The transformation and growing political and economic integration of the European Union creates an ideal setting to study the relationship between the two shores of the Mediterranean: Europe is North Africa’s leading trading partner and Spain is Morocco’s leading trading partner. In this context, Spain is the EU member most interested in leading this rapprochement. Strategic issues such as migration management, security and political stability unite both regions.
Not only is the Mediterranean a natural space for Spain, but Morocco is a key trading partner. Morocco is a credible and listened to regional and international actor, which plays a decisive role for stability, peace and development in the Mediterranean, Atlantic and African regions. The alliances between the two countries are essential to unite the two shores of the Mediterranean and beyond, Europe and Africa and obtain mutual benefits. But we are losing opportunities.
The XII High Level Meeting (RAN) between Morocco and Spain, held in Rabat on February 2, 2023 under the joint presidency of Aziz Akhannouch and Pedro Sánchez, has been an opportunity to review the objectives and act jointly in order to to give continuity to this new dynamic, which is necessary for the well-being of the two countries, the prosperity of the region as a whole and the strengthening of Euro-Mediterranean and Euro-African relations.
Although relations with Morocco have a strong passionate component, and they will never be easy, Spain cannot afford to be in crisis with two of its closest neighbors (Morocco and Algeria). Resuming bilateral relations is an imperative for Spain. To conclude that the RAN has been a failure because King Mohammed VI did not receive Pedro Sánchez is pure ignorance. Sánchez met with his counterpart and with almost all the Moroccan government ministers, and the instructions from the palace were clear: the government had the green light to ratify the agreements. Another thing is the lousy communication about its consequences and results.
In this scenario, Algeria, one of the 10 largest natural gas and mineral deposits in the world, claims its space and leadership. Although the decision of President Pedro Sánchez to support the Moroccan autonomy plan for the Sahara unleashed the crisis with the Maghreb country, all the members of the Government have made an effort to value the importance of the relationship with Algeria, without the new relationship with Morocco is an obstacle. Algeria must return to relations with Spain and the reunion will come.
Algeria needs money and investments to be able to be a strategic energy supplier, for Italy and for Europe. Russia will not offer you financial solutions and neither will China. But the United States has already begun the “reconquest” of Africa, looking after its interests in the region, first with Morocco, a historical partner with whom it has always maintained good relations, to which it has given what it most wanted: sovereignty over the Sahara. Western (for the United States it is not a problem, neither internal nor external).
And once positioned in the southern Mediterranean, with Morocco on one side and Israel on the other, the US negotiates with Algeria to return to normal relations with Spain and Morocco. In exchange, they will strengthen economic-financial cooperation and the field of defense with investments and military reinforcements.
Spain and Europe need to rethink their relationship with the southern Mediterranean. The Mediterranean shaped our past, is shaping our present and will shape our future. It is time to turn it into a large socioeconomic area capable of competing with the large economic unions. We have to return to the Mediterranean, and Barcelona can exercise its capital status if it stops self-destructing. The United States has already returned and it will be for a reason.