In a joint communiqué released after a meeting in Madrid, Albares stressed that Spain’s position on Western Sahara, expressed on 7 April 2022, recognises Morocco’s “serious and credible” efforts within the framework of the United Nations to find a “mutually acceptable” solution, leaving aside the idea of a referendum on self-determination.

The head of Spanish diplomacy assured that the Moroccan autonomy initiative presented in 2007 is “the most serious, realistic and credible basis” for resolving a “dispute” at regional level.

In the same vein, the Moroccan minister emphasised that Rabat’s proposal has the support of the international community and is part of a dynamic search for a solution, unlike those who maintain “old positions” on self-determination in Western Sahara, defended by the Polisario Front, supported by Algeria, which demands a referendum on self-determination defined in 1991.

The reiteration of Spain’s position on a former territory that it colonised until 1975 comes three days after France reaffirmed its support for Moroccan sovereignty in Western Sahara, once again contradicting the Polisario Front.