European Parliament confirms strategic Importance of Morocco-EU partnership
The European Parliament has voted this Thursday a resolution that was tabled by the Spanish Ciudadanos party, member of the Renew Europe group in the European institution, which was expecting a strong condemnation of the North African country amidst the migratory incidents of last May in the occupied enclave of Ceuta.
However, the vote fell short of achieving the much hoped for unanimity as more than a third of MEPs did not support the resolution submitted by Spanish MEPS. As a matter of fact, The European institution considered the strong and strategic partnership with Morocco as a key factor.
The resolution fell short of denouncing the violence of the Spanish security forces and the summary deportations from Ceuta of minors and asylum seekers and ignored the political roots of the dispute between Morocco and Spain.
On minors, Morocco did not allow Spain and far-right groups space to maneuver. Upon high Royal instructions, Morocco reiterated its readiness to facilitate the return of its unaccompanied minors from Europe and explained that complexities are due to European administrative and legal procedures.
The announcement was welcomed by France and by EU migration and neighborhood commissioners as well as members of Parliament before the vote.
Morocco has on multiple occasions rejected Spanish attempts to Europeanize the bilateral conflict by derailing attention away from the political causes and depicting the row as one about migration.
Speaker of the Moroccan Parliament Habib Malki highlighted the close cooperation ties with the European Parliament and warned that the resolution in question was a mere attempt to distract from the root causes of the crisis with Spain.
Morocco has reiterated that the crisis was sparked by the admission of Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali into Spanish territory using a false identity in order to evade justice.
Morocco has repeatedly underlined the burden it suffers in order to stop migrants from crossing to Europe, but at the same time, it pointed out on multiple occasions that it has never and will never act as a policeman for the EU and that its counter migration efforts are undertaken as part of a spirit of partnership and shared-responsibility.
