Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez’s Dilemma Over Western Sahara

File photo of Western Sahara protests in Madrid, Spain. 

Photo Credit: Cristianrodenas, Wikipedia Commons

Spain’s calls to respect sovereignty in Venezuela and Gaza have drawn attention to alleged hypocrisy vis-a-vis its own colonial past

January 16, 2026 
EurActiv
By Inés Fernández-Pontes

(Euractiv) — Spain’s strong defence of international law in response to a US military operation in Venezuela and Washington’s threats to take over Greenland has reignited scrutiny of Madrid’s own position on Western Sahara, where Spain retains a key and politically sensitive role.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez condemned what he described as a violation of Venezuelan sovereignty following the US capture of the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, and urged the EU not to “remain silent” in the face of US interventionism.

“Atlanticism does not mean vassalage,” the socialist leader said last week in his address to ambassadors, adding that respect for the sovereignty of Ukraine, Gaza, Venezuela or Greenland is “non-negotiable.”

The remarks, however, have drawn attention to Spain’s alleged hypocrisy toward Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, and a long-running territorial dispute with direct legal and strategic implications for Madrid.

Controversies over airspace control

Spain withdrew from Western Sahara in 1975 after decades of colonial rule, opening the way for what international law considers the illegal occupation of the territory by Morocco and Mauritania. Nouakchott eventually withdrew from the conflict, but Rabat continues to lay claim to Western Sahara.

The situation triggered a protracted conflict between Rabat and the pro-independence armed group the Polisario Front, which claims to represent the local population.

“Airspace is part of Sahrawi territory, along with land and maritime space,” Abdulah Arabi, the Polisario Front representative in Spain, told Euractiv.

Arabi recalled the 2024 ruling of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), settling that Western Sahara is a distinct territory from Morocco.” Any action regarding the territory taken “without the consent of the people of Western Sahara and its legitimate representative is illegal under international law,” he noted.

But while Morocco claims sovereignty over Western Sahara, Spain continues to control the territory’s airspace. Since 1976, Spain’s air navigation authority, AENA, has managed air traffic from Gran Canaria’s Gandó airport.

For Rabat, control of the airspace is crucial for asserting control over the disputed territory, explained Isaías Barreñada, professor of international relations at Madrid’s Complutense University. But in Spain, where strong support for the Sahrawi cause persists across the political spectrum, any concession would be highly contentious.

In 2024, amid mounting pressure from political allies, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares denied that the government was considering concessions to Morocco over airspace, calling such claims “strange theories.”

Barreñada also noted that Spain doesn’t have the legal authority to transfer control of airspace to Morocco.

There’s also the question of symbolism. Former Spanish army colonel Alfredo Rodríguez told Euractiv that changing who manages the airspace would signal “who is consolidating power in Western Sahara.”

“The debate over air traffic control is not merely technical – it is fundamentally political,” Rodríguez said.

Morocco’s leverage

Spain’s room for manoeuvre is also constrained by its relationship with Morocco.

In 2021, ties between the two countries deteriorated after Madrid allowed the Polisario leader Brahim Ghali to receive medical treatment in Spain without notifying Rabat. Morocco responded by easing border controls, allowing thousands of migrants to storm the Spanish northern African exclave of Ceuta in what Spain’s Defence Minister Margarita Robles described as “blackmail.”

Madrid eventually capitulated, and relations were later “normalised” after Spain broke with decades of neutrality by backing Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara in 2022, a position the US and France also took.

A joint declaration later opened the door to future “discussions on airspace management.”

Serving as a crucial buffer against the Sahel’s instability, Morocco remains a key partner for Spain in fighting terrorism and criminal trafficking networks. Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska recently hailed this cooperation as “extraordinary,” highlighting Morocco’s role as a vital security shield for the EU.

According to Rodríguez, cooperation on migration, border control and policing gives Morocco significant leverage to “politically and economically influence” Spain.

Sánchez’s silence

Despite the many incentives for the Spanish government to acquiesce to Morocco, its silence leaves the socialists open to criticism.

Roberto Cantoni, an investigator for the organisation Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW), said Madrid’s staunch support for international law is, in fact, rather inconsistent.

“It is very striking and controversial given Sánchez’s support for other international rights violations and the self-determination of the Palestinians and Greenland,” Cantoni said.

Sánchez’s silence over the Sahara implies that “the problem does not exist,” he added, “as if there were no international judgments affirming that Morocco does not have sovereignty over this territory.”

The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to Euractiv’s requests for comment at the time of publication.

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