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  • Opinion Felipe VI to Morocco

Casa Real is waiting for

instructions from Moncloa

to mediate in the new crisis between the two countries. That is the official information that EL MUNDO has had access to. Felipe VI can become an important asset in interceding and trying to resolve the conflict, which began when Morocco discovered that Spain had allowed the Polisario Front leader to enter a Spanish hospital at the end of April for humanitarian reasons. However, Don Felipe's ability to act is

subject to Moncloa's wishes

. For now, the King had a telephone conversation yesterday morning with Pedro Sánchez in which they analyzed "the lines of action" to follow in the conflict. Later, Don Felipe contacted the president of Ceuta to transfer him

their "solidarity."

If they demand it, Felipe VI will use his diplomatic capacity and will speak

directly with Mohamed VI

to try to soften the tension.

This is what the King did in April of last year, when he called the Moroccan sovereign on Good Friday, in full confinement.

With the excuse of exchanging information about the pandemic between the two countries, Felipe VI

contacted his counterpart

ten days after Morocco unilaterally approved the expansion of its territorial waters by 200 miles.

That was the last time that Don Felipe spoke with Mohamed VI, according to official sources confirmed to this newspaper.

The

mediation of the Royal House in problems

with Morocco is not something new, since the King inherited from his father the good relationship with the Alawite royal family, first with

Hasan II

and later with Mohamed VI, whom Don Juan Carlos treated as "brothers" . Thus, two months after the proclamation, Don Felipe and Doña Letizia

traveled to Morocco

on a presentation tour. The Moroccan sovereign paid tribute to the Spanish Court. He even invited the Kings to celebrate

iftar

, the dinner with which the fast is broken during Ramadan. The fact that the Head of State visited the neighboring country during his holy month, something very exceptional, was interpreted as

a sign of friendship and closeness.

Despite the fact that Don Felipe thus began relations with his Moroccan counterpart, the King has not yet achieved

the good harmony

that his father had with Mohamed VI. Proof of this were the continuous cancellations that Morocco made of the State trip of the Kings to its territory. The visit was to take place in 2018, however, the Moroccans canceled the trip

six times,

one of them six days before it occurred. In some of the cancellations, it was speculated whether the poor health of Mohamed VI would have caused any of the cancellations, although that point was never confirmed.

The trip finally took place at the beginning of 2019. Although it was a state visit, it

did not last more than 24 hours

and the Kings only set foot in Rabat, although at first they had planned to travel to Casablanca and Tangier. During that visit, ten bilateral agreements were signed between the two countries.

Although the cordiality between the two royal houses has been maintained for decades,

the issue of Western Sahara

has never been

directly

addressed

, a territory that was Spanish and is pending a referendum. It is the first time that the leader of the Polisario Front provokes a crisis of such a level between the two countries, and there is no history of how Don Felipe could approach it with Mohamed VI, although the newspaper archive shows that the Spanish Monarchs have proceeded to visit Morocco when the tension is exceeded.

King Don Juan Carlos traveled to Morocco for the first time in

1979;

then Hasan II and he emphasized

the cordiality between the two royal houses

. At no time did they speak about the Sahara, a territory that four years earlier had been invaded by Morocco after the Green March.

The second state visit of the King Father to the country took place in 2005. It occurred three years after

the invasion of the islet of Perejil

by a crew of the Royal Moroccan Navy.

Although the conflict seemed resolved, Mohamed VI complained in an interview that he had

felt "slapped"

by how Spain solved the war problem, so it was decided that Don Juan Carlos would return him with a state visit.

In 2006, Don Juan Carlos picked up the phone and in contact with Mohamed VI stopped the massive arrival of immigrants to the Canary Islands.

He did so at the request of María Teresa Fernández de la Vega.

Today, Felipe VI awaits instructions.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Mohamed VI

  • Morocco

  • Philip VI

  • Occidental Sahara

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