CAMPAÑA SPAIN-MOROCCO

In July 2002, Morocco tested the determination of Spanish Government to defend its possessions in Africa. After the "Perejil" Crisis, in which Spain expelled the Moroccan military who had raised the flag of the alaouite kingdom on Perejil Island, diplomatic relations between the two countries began to deteriorate. In 2020, Morocco tried to take over a large parts of the waters belonging to the ZEE (Exclusive Economic Zone) of the Canary Islands. The diplomatic crisis reached its peak when in April 2021 Spain welcomed the Saharawi leader. The pulse and the bad relations between the two countries led to the massive assault by moroccans on the city of Ceuta in May of that same year. The socialist government of Spain bowed to the demands of Morocco and recognized the right to Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara. What caused the rejection of much of the Spanish publib opinion. This discontent caused the resourgence of the conservative party in Spain, which won the General Elections in 2022. After that victory, the new Spanish President broke relations with Morocco and signed a contract with Algeria for the construction of a direct gas pipeline between Algeria and Spain, which left Morocco off the game board and deprived it of the benefits of the passage of Algerial gas through its country on its way to Europe. The decision of the Spanish Government infuriated Morocco, which threatened to recover the sovereignty of the cities of Ceuta and Melilla. Tensions peaked in the summer of 2022, when several Royal Moroccan Navy patrol boats fired on and expelled Spanish fishing boats off the coast of Western Sahara. Spain denounced Morroco to UN in what it defined as acts of piracy. Morocco, for its part, assured that the population of the two cities were requesting a referendum on independence from Spain, something that Morocco promoted. In August 2022 an "illegal" Referendum was held in the cities of Ceuta and Melilla sponsored by Morocco. The result, not recognized by any Weste