elpais.com .- Diplomatic crisis threatens part of the German funds of 1.4 billion this year
The diplomatic crisis that Rabat unleashed in March by the suspension of relations with the German embassy is affecting the bilateral aid that the greatest power in the European Union is providing for the development of Morocco.
The German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the German Development Bank (KfW) are also affected by the break in relations, as a spokesman for the German Foreign Office confirmed to this newspaper.
This clash with the two organizations implies that almost all of Berlin’s activities in the field of development and cooperation are “affected by the unilateral politics of Morocco”. Some projects are “completely discontinued”, said the German spokesman.
The confrontation leaves some of the 1,400 million euros in development aid and cooperation that Germany is allocating to the Maghreb country this year in the air. “That makes us the most important bilateral donor in Morocco. Most of the money is used to fight Covid-19, ”the same sources state. According to the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Morocco was the third largest African country in 2019 after Egypt and Tunisia to receive the most development aid from Germany.
Rabat appears poised to bear the economic costs and diplomatic wear and tear that the crisis could cause with both Germany and Spain.
The government maintained the two crises in parallel for several months. The background to both crises is the position of the two European states on Western Sahara.
Every time the Moroccan Foreign Minister Naser Burita has tried to distance the European Union from his country’s diplomatic crisis with Spain in order to reduce it to a “bilateral” problem, he has avoided mentioning Germany.
However, both Spain and Germany have received the same accusation from Morocco: that of maintaining “hostile” positions in relation to this disputed area until decolonization, which is under the control of the Maghreb country. The Spanish and German governments have not even opposed the solution proposed by Morocco of granting Western Sahara regional autonomy.
They only expressed the wish to find a “permanent” solution that would be accepted by “both parties” and within the framework of the UN.
The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development confirms that the projects it oversees have been paralyzed since March, both those of the federal government and those that are channeled through non-governmental organizations.
Most of the aid should develop the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises with the aim of creating jobs: jobs for young people who are “urgently needed” in the country, said a ministerial spokesman.
Last year Germany provided € 420 million for Moroccan SMEs, most of it in the form of loans. In addition, the German Development Bank provided a further 717 million euros in loans, but specifically to combat the COVID-19 crisis.
This funding was primarily used for loan guarantee programs that helped companies sustain themselves.
One of the projects that has been paralyzed by Morocco since relations with Germany were suspended in March is the agreement that both countries signed in June 2020 to produce and research green hydrogen, a gas that has many hopes for Energiewende promoted by the European Union.
Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas was asked about this agreement in parliament a few weeks ago and replied that the funds for this project will only be paid out if Morocco fulfills its contractual obligations. And he added: “If the current situation continues, the Federal Government believes that negative consequences for business start-ups cannot be ruled out.”
Berlin appreciates the “many years of successful development cooperation with Morocco”, said the spokesman, adding that the Maghreb country has recently “implemented many reforms to suit German tastes”. The improvements in “good governance, development of the private sector and anti-corruption measures” led the German government to sign a cooperation agreement in 2019 to support this reformist path, this source emphasized.
At that time, Morocco thanked Berlin for the material cooperation. In December, in the midst of the pandemic, after the federal government released aid amounting to 1,387 million euros, the foreign minister of the Maghreb country held a telephone interview with the federal minister for economic cooperation and development, Gerd Müller. Burita praised “the excellence of the cooperation between the two countries”.
Three months later, the head of the Rabat diplomacy – who is usually always under the “high instructions” of King Mohamed VI. acts – a circular to the members of the government in which he “suspends all contacts” with the German embassy and its appendices. “Deep misunderstandings” in “fundamental questions” for Morocco were cited as the cause. When talking about “fundamental issues”, the Maghreb country often speaks of its “territorial integrity”. In other words, Western Sahara.
Between the sentence in early December, in which Burita praised “the excellence of bilateral relations,” and the letter in March, in which he provoked the “deep misunderstandings,” was that then President of the United States, Donald Trump, in December promised Rabat the recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara in return for Morocco normalizing its relations with Israel. The following day, the German Foreign Ministry issued a statement welcoming this normalization of relations between Israel and Morocco. He added, however, that the government’s position on Western Sahara has not changed and that it continues to support the search for a solution that is “accepted by both parties and mediated by the UN”.
