House of Advisors: Former Morocco-EU Parliamentary Friendship Group Deplores Instrumentalization of Migration Issue To “Europeanize” Moroccan-Spanish Crisis

Members of the former Morocco-European Union (EU) parliamentary friendship group in the House of Advisors strongly deplored the instrumentalization by some circles, that are hostile to the partnership between the Kingdom and the EU, of the migration issue with the aim of “Europeanizing” the Moroccan-Spanish crisis. “We strongly deplore the instrumentalization, by certain circles that are hostile to the loyal and exemplary partnership between the Kingdom of Morocco and the European Union, of the migration issue and in particular that relating to unaccompanied minors, with the aim of Europeanizing the bilateral crisis and to divert European opinion from the real cause of the current political crisis between Spain and Morocco, following the hidden entry into the Schengen area of ​​the man named Brahim Ghali and his secret hospitalization under a false identity at the Logroño hospital,” members of the former friendship group said on Tuesday in a press statement. They also said to have learned, with astonishment, of the inclusion on the agenda of the plenary session of the European Parliament, Thursday 10 June 2021, of a draft resolution on a so-called “use of minors by the Moroccan authorities” during the Sebta migration crisis, deeming that this maneuver, initiated by certain circles that are hostile to the loyal and exemplary partnership between the Kingdom and the EU, is part of an attempt to divert the attention of the international opinion from a purely bilateral political crisis between Morocco and Spain. This crisis arose following the secret entry into the Schengen area of ​​the man named Brahim Ghali under the false identity of “Mohamed Ben Battouche”, sued by the Spanish courts for serious crimes against several victims, some of whom are of Spanish nationality, said the same source, emphasizing “the sincere positions and acts undertaken by the Kingdom of Morocco during the Catalan crisis aimed at supporting the Kingdom of Spain in its legitimate struggle to preserve its national sovereignty and its territorial integrity”. The members of the former friendship group welcomed the initiative of HM King Mohammed VI who instructed the government to definitively settle the issue of duly identified unaccompanied Moroccan minors in an illegal situation in certain European countries. They also called on their counterparts at the European Parliament to rely on the principle of responsibility and the constructive spirit in order to further consolidate the strategic partnership between the Kingdom and the EU, and participate in the resolution of this bilateral crisis, recalling the ties of friendship and cooperation between Moroccan parliamentarians and their European counterparts within the framework of the strategic partnership between the two parties.