El Gobierno español prepara las negociaciones con Marruecos sobre las aguas de Canarias

Julio Pérez, Canary Islands Minister of Public Administration, Justice and Security (PSOE) travelled to Madrid on Monday 27 June to represent the Canary Islands Government in the negotiations with Morocco on the delimitation of Atlantic waters. 

Following the joint declaration of 7 April between the Spanish and Moroccan governments, the road map presented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, contemplated the return to activity of the Spanish-Moroccan working group for the delimitation of the Atlantic coast. This working group has been inactive for 15 years, and its content is of particular concern to the autonomous government of the Canary Islands. 

He was accompanied by the former deputy for the Partido Nacionalista Canario, José Miguel Ruano, as a technical specialist in constitutional law. 

On leaving the interministerial meeting, Minister Julio Pérez made some assessments, pointing out that the negotiations with Morocco would be "longer and more delicate than they might appear". "It will be a process in which the Canary Islands will be present", Pérez continued. 

According to the news agencies present at the press conference, Pérez conveyed a "positive position" regarding the preparatory meeting. "We have many things to discuss with this neighbour and we want to deal with them in a climate of harmony and understanding, but also of respect for our positions," the minister added in statements to the media. 

At present, the waters between the Canary Islands and Morocco, with their closest point between Tarfaya and the island of Fuerteventura, are delimited by the principle of equidistance. In other words, the border is drawn at the midpoint between one coast and the other, right in the middle.  

The thorny issue of the delimitation of the Canary Islands' waters was complicated when Morocco, through its parliament, appropriated the coasts of Western Sahara. Possession of these coasts gives Morocco the option, beyond the 200 nautical miles of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), to opt over the waters and seabed corresponding to its territorial shelf, which extend a further 150 nautical miles beyond the EEZ. This extension, which is not yet internationally recognised, would conflict and overlap with Spain's claim to sovereignty over the Canary Islands' continental shelf, which includes the rich underwater deposits known as Mount Tropic. 

In 2014, a Spanish delegation led by the Spanish Geological and Mining Institute submitted such a request, which is still pending assessment by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS). This United Nations body is responsible for adjudicating maritime disputes and requests from states for control of resources beyond the 200-mile EEZ. In mid-June 2022, a vote was taken to renew the membership of the CLCS for the 2023-2028 term. Morocco, through Professor of Maritime Law Miloud Loukili, obtained a vote in this renewal. 

However, for the foreseeable future, meetings between Spain and Morocco will not be able to agree on the waters over which Morocco does not have international recognition, i.e. those corresponding to Western Sahara. The Spanish-Moroccan working group will be able to agree on the other areas, but an agreement covering the Sahara would not be valid, or could be annulled by the courts, as was the case with the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement. 

According to the minister, the negotiations with Morocco will address not only the issue of delimitation of waters, but also that of security and immigration to the Canary Islands. In 2021, the Canary Islands received up to 19,865 irregular migrants in 492 small boats, many of them coming from the Moroccan coast, or from Western Sahara, controlled by the Moroccan government.