Tension in Moroccan-Spanish relations serves neither country, Youssoufi
Moroccan Premier and first secretary of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP), Abderrahmane Youssoufi underlined the need to defuse the soonest possible the crisis in Moroccan-Spanish relations and asserted that this situation serves the interest of none of the two countries.
At a joint news conference with Secretary General of the Spanish Socialist labor Party (PSOE/in the opposition), Jos? Rodriguez Zapatero, who was visiting Morocco at the invitation of the USFP, Youssoufi said the two countries share common issues and common interests.
He said that Spain ranks second as Morocco's commercial and economic partner and as foreign investor, recalling that more than 800 Spanish enterprises are settled in Morocco. He also underlined the two countries' strategic location, on the strait of Gibraltar, in the Euro-Mediterranean space.
Youssoufi also dealt with the tension in bilateral relations, saying that the cultural and political bounds existing between the two countries require that Rabat and Madrid defuse the tension and address earnestly and frankly all issues likely to harm bilateral relations.
Moroccan-Spanish relations grew strained in view of Spain's hostile stands towards Morocco and its vital supreme interests and Morocco decided last October to recall its ambassador to Spain for consultation. Morocco made the decision after a series of practices that accumulated since the breakdown last April of Moroccan-European Union negotiations on fisheries. Part of these practices Spain threatened to freeze financial and economic assistance to Morocco, called the EU to enforce sanctions on Morocco, adopted a hostile discourse against Morocco in the issue of illegal migration, denigrated Morocco's institutions and tried to make an amalgam with terrorism.
Spain's anti-Moroccan stands have also affected the issue of Morocco's territorial integrity.
Youssoufi also hailed Zapatero's initiative to visit Morocco despite the unfair criticism he was subjected to in his country, stressing that the continuation of dialogue between Morocco and Spain was imperative to establish a climate of detente in bilateral relations.
Youssoufi equally spoke of relations between his party and the PSOE, recalling that these relations date back to the era before the democratic transition in Spain.
The PSOE Secretary General had arrived in Rabat Sunday, on a two-day visit to Morocco at the invitation of the USFP.
