It’s a nice way of saying it. Not respecting the principles can bring advantages in the short term, but in the long run it usually pays dearly. And sometimes short too. The Government seems to ignore it as a sign its way of managing the relationship with Morocco and to dismiss the director of the CNI.Mohamed VI, backed by Donald Trump’s decision to recognize his sovereignty over Western Sahara, he gave us a warning when the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, came to Spain to deal with covid. Warning of his visit in advance would have been courteous, but it would not have prevented the crisis because Morocco wanted it to put into practice what Marcos Bartolomé has called in a recent article in ‘Foreign Policy’ “tantrum diplomacy & rdquor; (‘tantrum diplomacy’), and to put pressure on the immigration issue while economically suffocating Melilla and Ceuta, towards which he launched an avalanche of 10,000 people, many of them minors, and then completed the move by calling his ambassador in Madrid for consultations. And President Sánchez wrinkled, as Morocco knew he would end up doing, and first offered him the head of the Minister of Foreign Affairs on a platter Arantxa Gonzalez Laya and, since that was not enough, it ended up implicitly recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara, since that is the obvious consequence of supporting its autonomy plan.
It is a personal decision that changes the Spanish policy of the last 50 years, taken exceeding the presidential powers (article 69 of the Constitution), without the knowledge of his ministers, without the backing of any political force in Congress apart from his own party, the PSOE, whose electoral program demanded a self-determination referendum for the Sahara, and forgetting that foreign policy requires consensus because it responds to State interests that do not change when the Moncloa tenant does. And without explaining either, at least to date, how this decision contributes to facilitating a solution to the conflict or what advantages it has for Spain, apart from the specific ones of controlling irregular immigration a little more or alleviating the pressure on Ceuta and Melilla without modify the underlying problem, because Morocco will never abandon its claim to sovereignty. In other words, we give in on principles in exchange for temporary advantages, regardless of international legality and confronting Algeria when its gas is more necessary to us than ever and that, which is bad, is not the worst. The worst thing is that Morocco smells weakness and that is a recipe that guarantees problems in the future.
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And made to give in, Pedro Sanchez it has also done so in the case of eavesdropping, where instead of defend the CNI explaining to the independence leaders well-founded reasons why they were listened to and would continue to be listened to, always with judicial authorization, As long as they don’t stop trying illegally break Spain, the president humbled himself before them and dismissed the director of the CNI who He did nothing but follow the instructions given by the government in the Intelligence Directive, provided with the mandatory judicial authorizations when the investigation affects rights recognized in article 18 of the Constitution. The Government claims to ignore everything when it is the one that orders and receives the work of the CNI, and tries to divert attention to a serious flaw in the security of the presidential telephone… which is not the responsibility of the CNI but of the presidency itself, as you well know Bolaños Minister. Again principles are sacrificed for the sake of short-term profits paying, yes, the very high price of humiliating the State and discrediting institutions as important to our collective security as the National Intelligence Center. And so, cutting heads, the bundle of an in-depth investigation of what happened is slipped away while giving the impression that there may be other actors, foreigners? which is suspected but has not come to light.
And maybe all for nothing, because although Sánchez fears that he will not be able to stay in power if he fails the support of the motley group of nationalists who supported his inauguration, they will not shoot themselves in the foot because they know that any alternative would be worse for them.