{"id":1179478,"date":"2026-08-31T20:03:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T20:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1179478\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T20:03:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T20:03:28","slug":"sanchez-and-the-eu-have-decided-that-morocco-relations-are-too-big-to-fail-euobserver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1179478\/","title":{"rendered":"S\u00e1nchez and the EU have decided that Morocco relations are too big to fail \u2013 EUobserver"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is no evidence that Morocco\u00a0bears any responsibility for the migrant surge in Ceuta in late July that led to close to\u00a075,000 migrants\u00a0crossing the border into the Spanish enclave.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So says Spain\u2019s prime minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez,\u00a0who was on the receiving end of vitriol from other EU leaders, notably Italy and the Netherlands. Both Rome and The Hague complained that his\u00a0government had undermined the integrity of the EU\u2019s passport-free Schengen travel area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no information from any intelligence agency that raises doubts over the involvement of Moroccan authorities,\u201d he told Spanish radio on Monday (31 August).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCooperation with\u00a0Morocco<\/a>\u00a0is frankly positive,\u201d added S\u00e1nchez, continuing that \u201cthis crisis can be resolved only through cooperation \u2013 and not through a lack of trust in Morocco, which would only further aggravate the already complex situation we have in Ceuta.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, the Spanish PM says claims of Moroccan complicity are the result of disinformation spread by Russia and Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is a remarkable statement for a European leader to make.\u00a0It is almost inconceivable that Moroccan authorities, who run a tight intelligence operation and who have deliberately opened the Ceuta border crossing in the recent past, were caught unaware by the surge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But S\u00e1nchez\u2019s remarks are consistent with those of other EU leaders, from whom there has been barely a breath of criticism of Morocco in relation to Ceuta.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The obvious conclusion to draw is that the EU views Morocco as an ally that is\u00a0simply\u00a0too strategically important to cross.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MAGA ties<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Morocco and the US Trump administration, already one of its closest allies,\u00a0continue to get closer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last week, Morocco\u2019s parastatal\u00a0fertiliser\u00a0giant OCP signed an agreement with\u00a0CHS Inc., the largest farmer-owned cooperative in the United States, to build a phosphate\u00a0fertiliser\u00a0plant in the southern US state of Louisiana, at a cost of $450m [\u20ac387m].<\/p>\n

The facility\u00a0will be\u00a0the first\u00a0of its kind constructed in the United States since 1984.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This agreement makes commercial and political sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0In July,\u00a0Trump\u00a0lifted\u00a0tariffs on Moroccan\u00a0fertiliser\u00a0that had been imposed by\u00a0his predecessor Joe Biden as part of several measures to tackle an\u00a0\u2018emergency\u2019\u00a0facing American farmers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The launch event for the OCP\/CHS plant was attended by\u00a0US secretary of agriculture Brooke Rollins and Louisiana\u2019s Republican party governor Jeff Landry. The new plant which should reduce\u00a0US\u00a0fertiliser\u00a0imports by up to 50 percent, say the two partners,\u00a0clearly has the full support of the Trump administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The EU\u2019s main bargaining chips\u00a0are\u00a0likely to be\u00a0sweeteners for the bloc\u2019s trade arrangements with Morocco at the expense of Western Sahara.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The European Court of Justice has handed down a series of rulings, the most recent in October 2024, that products from Western Sahara cannot be covered by the scope of the EU-Morocco pact.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But EU foreign ministers, and most of the EU-27, have now officially\u00a0recognised\u00a0Morocco\u2019s plan for limited autonomy and sovereignty over Western Sahara.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And member states do not want to rock the boat. In a response on 24 August to a parliamentary question<\/a> tabled by Die Linke [The Left], the German government said that it had raised no objections about the new EU-Morocco trade agreement covering products from Western Sahara, a disputed territory south of Morocco over which Rabat claims sovereignty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There are also reports that European Commission officials are anxious to move quickly on a revised EU-Morocco fisheries agreement<\/a>, although Morocco is likely to demand (and expect) more\u00a0favourable\u00a0conditions than under the\u00a0previous\u00a0arrangement which was suspended because of the ECJ.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last week, a commission spokesperson said that\u00a0ever, that \u201cthere is currently no timetable for negotiation rounds or technical talks\u201d and added: \u201cWe are ready to negotiate when Morocco is ready to do so.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is a longstanding, albeit informal, convention that nothing newsworthy happens in the dog days of July and August when politicians take their holidays. Not so this year. And Morocco has been the big winner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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