Sánchez will explain in Congress the change of historical Spanish position on Western Sahara

The president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, will appear before Congress next week to explain the change in the historical position on the former colony of Western Sahara, which earned him numerous attacks, the executive spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

Spain, which until 1975 was the colonial power in Western Sahara, took a 180º turn on Friday to its traditional stance of neutrality, to speak out publicly for the first time in favor of the Moroccan autonomy plan for this territory, in the face of the self-determination referendum demanded by the Saharawi Polisario Front.

With this, Madrid intends to close a diplomatic crisis with Morocco, although it could have opened another with Algeria, the main support of the Polisario, which called its ambassador in Madrid for consultations.

Sánchez will appear to discuss the conclusions of a meeting with his European partners and “this new framework of relations with Morocco,” Isabel Rodríguez said at the press conference following the government's weekly meeting.

The Spanish turn, which aims to achieve Morocco's “cooperation” in controlling irregular emigration to Spain, earned the socialist executive criticism of the opposition, but also from its far-left government allies Podemos.

Isabel Rodríguez argued that the agreement with Rabat allows “the closure of a political crisis in which both countries were in.”

The spokeswoman also argued that the change “does not affect relations with other countries”, and that Algeria is “a reliable partner as a supplier of energy”, specifically liquefied natural gas, at a time of energy shortage.

mg/al/rs/mb