SPAIN AND MOROCCO AGREED TO RELAUNCH TUNNEL PROJECT LINKING BOTH NATIONS

Spain and Morocco have committed to stepping up efforts to relaunch the tunnel that seeks to link the two countries under the Strait of Gibraltar.

“After fourteen years, from Tangier in October 2009, we are going to give impetus to the studies of a project of maximum geostrategic importance for our countries and foliations between Europe and Africa,” said Raquel Sanchez, Spain’s Minister of Transport, Mobility, and Urban Agenda. 

The minister made her remarks alongside Morocco’s Minister of Equipment Nizar Baraka on Monday, during an encounter that was part of the 43rd meeting of the joint Spanish-Moroccan commission for the tunnel project.

“We are beginning a new stage in the revival of the fixed link project across the Strait of Gibraltar, which we launched in 1981, hand in hand,” she added.

The plan to initiate the milestone project dates back to the Spanish-Moroccan Common Declaration of June 16, 1979, in Fez, where King Hassan I of Morocco and King Juan Carlos I of Spain agreed to work toward the development of the project in line with their commitment to boosting bilateral ties as well as relations between Europe and Africa.

“The two parties agreed to jointly study the feasibility of permanent communication in the Strait of Gibraltar, for which purpose it was decided to carry out an exchange of scientific and technical information, through the creation of two mixed study companies,” according to the government of Spain.

During Monday’s meeting, Sanchez recalled her country’s unwavering commitment to supporting the project plan, stressing that both Morocco and Spain encourage the project and have agreed to address the development of an overall strategy and work plan for the next three years.

The meeting between the Spanish and Moroccan counterparts followed the high-level meeting between Spain and Morocco on February 1-2.

During the meeting, the two countries reaffirmed their agreement to promote the studies of the fixed link project.

Ceuta-Melila: Revival of tension?

The meeting also comes amid divergences between Moroccan politicians on the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.

Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles recently challenged Morocco’s President of the House of Councillors Naam Miyara’s remarks on the two Spanish enclaves.

In remarks made during a conference organized by the Moroccan political party Al Istiqlal, Miyara stressed that the two cities are colonized and should be returned to Morocco through dialogue with Spain.

The remarks did not sit well with Robles, who claimed that the two Spanish enclaves are Spanish.

“I visited Ceuta and Melilla recently and I feel that I am from both cities, and they are very Spanish,” she claimed.

The exchange of remarks on Ceuta and Melilla comes several months after the two countries came out from a critical phase following a year of the political and diplomatic crisis.

In 2021, Spain angered Morocco after it hosted Polisario leader Brahim Ghali for hospitalization, with Rabat describing the move as hostile and a betrayal of the principles of mutual respect and transparency between allies.

Relations were restored in March 2022, after a year-long diplomatic row that was only settled with Spain agreeing to embrace Morocco’s Western Sahara stance and describe the Moroccan Autonomy Plan as the most serious and credible solution to end the dispute over the region. 

SOURCE: MoroccoWorldNews