Rabat \u2013 Unsurprisingly, the Spanish Popular Party (PP) has again displayed hostility towards Morocco. The conservative party is reportedly maneuvering against the Morocco-EU agreements within the European Parliament.<\/p>\n
The party, which is notoriously slanderous and anti-Moroccan, is now attempting to exclude Morocco\u2019s southern provinces in Western Sahara from the EU-Morocco trade agreements.<\/p>\n
Sources from the PP confirmed the news to Spanish news outlet El Independiente. The sources said<\/a> the PP request is for Western Sahara to be completely excluded from the trade agreement discussions between the EU and Morocco.<\/p>\n This reflects PP\u2019s general stance, distancing the party from Spain\u2019s position that endorses the Moroccan Autonomy Plan as the most serious and credible political solution to end the dispute.<\/p>\n Recurring hostility against Morocco<\/b><\/p>\n PP\u2019s request aligns with the party\u2019s recurring hostility towards Morocco, which has been frequently dismantled by the Spanish government, which adamantly defends the strong and productive bilateral ties between Rabat and Madrid.<\/p>\n Last year, the Spanish party attributed responsibility to Morocco in the Pegasus spyware case without evidence.<\/p>\n Spain strongly criticized the party in December of the same year, marking its consistent rejection of allegations against its North African neighbor.<\/p>\n The party has made claims and accused Morocco without substantial proof. Observers describe similar remarks as a hoax and slander orchestrated by the extreme right, which has accused Morocco of alleged involvement in using Pegasus spyware against Spanish officials during the 2021 diplomatic tensions between the two countries.<\/p>\n Beyond the Pegasus case, PP has also been angered by Spain\u2019s strengthened economic ties with its southern neighbor.<\/p>\n In May this year, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez\u2019 political party PSOE strongly condemned PP for attempting to \u201cbreak relations\u201d between Morocco and Spain.<\/p>\n This comes amid criticism from PP over the desalination plant project in Casablanca.<\/p>\n Rafael Robles, PSOE spokesperson, responded to PP\u2019s claims, stressing that the Spanish cabinet is financing public infrastructure built by Spanish companies that will provide jobs for Spaniards.\u201d<\/p>\n He also accused PP\u2019s Manuel Angel Quevedo of being \u201ceither uninformed or deliberately lying\u201d to \u201cdeceive Melilla\u2019s citizens about the nature of the financing arrangement.\u201d<\/p>\n Rabat\u2019s EU alliances targeted\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n EU-Morocco agreements have been subject to hostility from many, including Polisario\u2019s advocates.\u00a0<\/p>\n In October, Polisario, Algeria, and pro-Polisario advocates celebrated a hostile decision from the European Court of Justice, which ruled<\/a> that the EU Commission \u201cviolated the right of self-determination of Western Sahara<\/a>\u2019s population\u201d by concluding trade agreements with Morocco that included products from the country\u2019s southern provinces<\/a>.<\/p>\n