BRUSSELS, July 18: The row between Spain and Morocco over a tiny Mediterranean island is causing tensions within the European Union, which on Thursday issued a new call for dialogue to solve the dispute, an EU diplomat said.
France and Italy prevented the 15-nation EU on Wednesday from issuing a statement backing Spain, said the diplomat.
He said several EU states believed the European Commission — the EU’s executive arm — had gone too far last week when it demanded that Morocco immediately withdraw its troops from a disputed island less than 200 metres from its coast and said Rabat had violated Spanish sovereignty.
The status of the uninhabited 13.5-hectare (33-acre) rocky outcrop, known as Perejil in Spain and Leila in Morocco, has been ambiguous since Madrid’s protectorate over nearby parts of Morocco came to an end in 1956.
Madrid maintains there is an agreement, respected for over 40 years, that neither side occupy the rocky outcrop. But Rabat insists the question of ownership has never been settled.
The diplomat added that Spain and France, Morocco’s former colonial ruler, were “not necessarily defending the same interests” in the north African country.
On Thursday, the Commission issued a toned-down statement on the dispute, which arose when a handful of Moroccan troops raised the Moroccan flag on Perejil/Leila on July 11, only to be evicted by Spanish elite troops six days later.
The Commission urged Madrid and Rabat rapidly to renew talks aimed at finding a long-term solution to the dispute. It voiced solidarity with Spain, an EU member, but also stressed that Morocco was a friend of the bloc’s. The EU said it had no plans to suspend its trade and aid agreements with Rabat.
MOROCCO’S TERMS FOR TALKS: Despite international pressure to peacefully resolve their row Spain and Morocco appeared no nearer a solution on Thursday, with both sides demanding that the other make the first concession.
Spain offered to withdraw its soldiers from the island if Rabat pleged to never again send troops there.
But Morocco has said talks with Madrid can only begin once the Spanish troops had left the rocky outcrop.
Rabat, which on Wednesday accused Madrid of a “declaration of war”, wrote to the United Nations Security Council the same day demanding the “immediate withdrawal of occupying Spanish troops”. Spanish elite soldiers retook the island on Wednesday, a week after a handful of Moroccan troops landed there and raised the Moroccan flag.
“Such a withdrawal is a precondition for the renewal of talks between Morocco and Spain, aimed at re-establishing cooperation, friendship and good neighbourliness,” the Moroccan letter said.
But Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio said on Thursday Madrid wanted guarantees from Rabat before it pulled its troops out.
“There should be a serious status quo, with guarantees, that is to say that if Spain abandons the islet, the Moroccans should never return,” she told national television, adding that a pledge from King Mohammed VI would be sufficient.
She said dawn commando raid to expel the six Moroccan soldiers on the islet had been merely aimed at restoring the status quo that existed before the Moroccan troops arrived there on July 11.
“Spain would have liked to have concluded a deal and not undertake this (military) operation,” Palacio said. “What Spain wants is to restore the status quo.”
Defence Minister Federico Trillo said 75 Spanish legionnaires were now stationed on the island and the warships dispatched to the area last week would stay there “as long as necessary”.
The status of Perejil/Leila has been ambiguous since Madrid’s protectorate over nearby parts of Morocco came to an end in 1956.
Madrid maintains there is an agreement, respected for over 40 years, that neither side occupy the rocky outcrop.
On Wednesday Moroccan Foreign Minister Mohamed Benaissa claimed Madrid had sent in its troops despite the fact a deal had been struck on Tuesday night, with “guarantees from the United States and two European countries”, which he did not name.—AFP