• Foreign policy The majority of Congress demands that Sánchez rectify the Sahara and communicate it to Mohamed VI tomorrow

  • Diplomacy Mohamed VI invites Pedro Sánchez to the 'iftar' to inaugurate a "new stage" in a trip to Morocco without a closed agenda

Pedro Sánchez meets this afternoon with the King of Morocco to confirm his change of position in relation to Western Sahara, going on to unequivocally support the autonomy plan designed by Morocco in 2007. The president attends the meeting already knowing that he does not have the approval of Congress.

The Chamber voted today in favor of a non-law proposal sponsored by the Government's own minority partner, rejecting the swerve in a sensitive matter of foreign policy and urging the Executive to "ratify its support for the UN resolutions" that all of them recognize the right to self-determination of the Saharawi.

The initiative signed by United We Can, ERC and EH Bildu has attracted the support of all parliamentary forces, with the exception of the PSOE, which has been left alone in its vote against, and Vox and Ciudadanos, who have opted for abstention.

The voting board has thus thrown 115 rejections of the non-law proposal, compared to 161

yeses

and 58 abstentions.

The Socialists decided yesterday at the last minute to change their intention to vote, which, initially, opted for

yes

after hearing the harsh intervention against the Prime Minister by the spokesman for Podemos,

Gerardo Pisarello

, and to try to prevent Sánchez from attending this night to his appointment with Mohamed VI without even having the support of his own parliamentary group.

PP support

On this occasion, all the allies of the Government and even the minority partner of the government coalition, have decided to turn their backs on the president and they have been joined by the first opposition party, the PP.

Vox's abstention, moreover, must be interpreted, as expressed by its spokesman Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, as a demonstration that Sánchez's unilateral turn in relation to the Sahara does not commit them since it has been decided behind the backs of the representatives of national sovereignty.

Neither Ciudadanos, despite having abstained, supports Sánchez's lurch.

Finally, the text that the Chamber has approved is the original proposed by UP, ERC and Bildu.

It is a tough proposition in its expository part but very diluted in the dispositive part.

In fact, the latter does not mention the recognition of the right of the Saharawi people to free self-determination, an approach that is understood to be reflected in the need to "ratify support" for United Nations resolutions and advocate for a "political solution fair, realistic, feasible, lasting and acceptable to both parties".

The formations that have promoted the proposal did not accept the PNV amendment, much more explicit and harsh.

The Basque nationalists proposed that the Congress openly express its "disagreement" with the change in the Government's position, calling it "radical and unilateral" and insisting that it "means fully aligning itself with the aspirations of the Kingdom of Morocco to consider the territory as its own." of the Sahara".

The text of the PNV did expressly include the recognition of the right to self-determination of the Saharawi people.

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