Los acontecimientos más relevantes de Marruecos en el 2021

The bilateral crisis with Spain and the migratory episode in Ceuta, as well as the organisation of general elections, were the events that most marked the Moroccan news, in addition to others of a diplomatic nature with tension with Germany and the rupture of relations with Algeria.

These were the ten main news items that characterised 2021 in Morocco:

The diplomatic crisis between Morocco and Spain began with the hospitalisation in Logroño of Brahim Gali, leader of the Polisario Front fighting against the independence of Western Sahara and Rabat's number one enemy. The "humanitarian" reasons given by Madrid for the hospitalisation did not satisfy Rabat, which made it clear at the time that this action would have consequences.

Between 17 and 18 May, more than 10,000 migrants - mostly Moroccans and minors - entered the Spanish North African city of Ceuta en masse in the face of the passivity of the Moroccan authorities, aggravating the biggest bilateral diplomatic crisis in recent decades. Eight months later, relations between Morocco and Spain have still not returned to normal, the Moroccan ambassador in Rabat, Karima Benyaich, who was recalled for consultations last May, is still in Rabat, and the Moroccan Ministry of Health last week accused Madrid of failing to comply with controls against covid-19 at its airports.

Morocco and Israel took several steps forward in 2021 to seal their partnership after the re-establishment of diplomatic relations a year ago. This year was marked by the reopening of liaison offices in Rabat and Tel Aviv, the launch of several direct air routes, as well as the signing of trade agreements and an unprecedented defence cooperation agreement.

The Israeli foreign and defence ministers, Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz, have already visited Morocco in August and November respectively, while the Moroccan foreign minister, Naser Burita, is expected to visit the country.

Algeria announced last August the severance of diplomatic relations with Morocco and the closure of its airspace to Moroccan aircraft, accusing the neighbouring country of "hostile actions".

The rupture came after several months of tension between the two historic rivals as a result of Algeria's unease over the Moroccan army's operation in Guerguerat, the normalisation of relations with Israel, and resulted in the closure last October of the Maghreb Europe Gas Pipeline, a strategic pipe that supplied Algerian natural gas to Spain through Moroccan territory.

Last May, Morocco recalled its ambassador to Berlin in response to 'hostile acts' it attributed to the German authorities for questioning Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. The Moroccan foreign ministry ordered all public departments and ministries to break off all contact or relations with the German embassy in Rabat.

However, relations between the two countries began to improve after Rabat announced this December its readiness to reconcile with Berlin after welcoming the German foreign ministry's latest statement that the Moroccan autonomy plan was "an important contribution" to a solution to the Sahara conflict.

On 8 September, Morocco held three simultaneous elections for the first time (legislative, regional and municipal) which surprised with the electoral landslide of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) after a decade in power, which ended up in eighth place in these elections with only 13 seats out of a total of 395 in the lower house of the Moroccan Parliament (with the loss of 90% of the seats it had in the previous legislature).

These elections also gave an unprecedented victory to the centrist liberal National Rally of Independents (RNI) with 102 seats, whose leader, the millionaire Aziz Ajanuch, chairs the current coalition government.

The Moroccan economy will grow by 6.7 % in 2021, according to the central bank Bank Al Maghrib, which recently revised upwards its growth forecasts for the country, thanks among other things to the good progress of the massive vaccination campaign and the good results of the agricultural campaign, despite the uncertainty linked to the health crisis and the current border closure decreed by the Moroccan authorities.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently pointed out that the recovery of the Moroccan economy will continue, adding that after a deficit of 6.3% in 2020, Morocco's GDP will stand at 6.3%, which will allow it to recover almost to the level of before the health crisis, and stressed that Morocco is the country that will grow the most in the North Africa and Middle East region.

The European Union (EU) removed Morocco from the 'grey list' of tax havens last February after Rabat introduced a series of reforms in recent years that put an end to its export processing zones.

The Maghreb country had been on the list since 2017, when it initiated a series of reforms to its tax system, previously considered by Brussels as 'pernicious' by the EU and which could have compromised the external aid granted by the European organisation.

Remittances sent by Moroccan emigrants living abroad to their country of origin have continued their upward trend since the outbreak of the health crisis, and will reach a record 94.7 billion dirhams (9 billion euros) this year in 2021, up 38.9 per cent compared to last year, according to forecasts by the Moroccan central bank.

According to experts, this record increase in remittances - one of the country's main sources of foreign exchange - is explained among other things by migrants' sense of solidarity with their relatives and the increasing use of formal channels for sending money.

Moroccan team Raja Casablanca won the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Cup last July with a 2-1 victory over Algerian club JS Kabylie in a match played in Cotonou (Benin).

The Casablanca side lost last Wednesday's Super African Cup to Egypt's Al Ahly on penalties (6-5).

At the last Olympic Games in Tokyo, Moroccan athlete Soufiane el Bakkali won the 3000m steeplechase, giving Morocco its first gold medal in 16 years after Moroccan legend Hicham el Guerrouj, who was Olympic champion in the 1500m and 5000m events. EFE