The former president of the Spanish government,

Felipe González,

said today in New York that the Moroccan proposal for autonomy for Western Sahara, which the Spanish government has come to support, is in his opinion "the best solution" for a conflict that will soon have

50 years duration.

"It is

the most serious and realistic solution

that has been presented in more than forty years of conflict," González told a group of Spanish journalists at a ceremony in New York where he had attended the Queen Sophia Institute awards ceremony and that he had with his friend, the millionaire

Carlos Slim,

among the winners.

González, who pointed out that he was only representing himself, specified that he

was speaking "on the merits"

of the issue and did not want to answer the question of how the Moroccan government had achieved this change in Spain's position after decades of proclaiming "neutrality" in a conflict that, until just a month ago, it was placing in the hands of the United Nations.

The former president added that so far no one has managed to unravel one of the central knots of that conflict, such as

who would be entitled to vote in a

self-determination referendum that the Polisario Front has always demanded and that Morocco rejects: "Whoever knows the census ( of voters) who can unblock this situation, come and tell me," he insisted.

Felipe González has not hidden

his close friendship with Morocco and the Alaouite monarchy for years:

in 2014, on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of Mohamed VI's coronation, he was one of the few foreign guests at the Throne Party in Rabat.

Since that date, he has supported the so-called "territorial integrity" of Morocco - an expression with which Rabat alludes to its sovereignty over the Sahara -, although without meaning as much as other co-religionists of his same party such as the former president

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero

or the former Foreign Minister

Miguel Ángel Moratinos,

who today was present at the gala having dinner next to Felipe González.

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Know more

  • Morocco

  • Philip Gonzalez

  • Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero

  • Mohammed VI

  • Occidental Sahara

Historical turn of SpainWhat does the autonomy plan for Western Sahara consist of?

Politics The argumentative of the PSOE establishes Pedro Sánchez as protector of Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands

Diplomacy The letter from Pedro Sánchez to Mohamed VI does not mention Ceuta and Melilla and makes numerous errors

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