With 11.1 million containers handled in 2025, the Moroccan port complex Tanger Med is widening the gap with its Spanish neighbor Algeciras and now ranks, in terms of volume, immediately behind European leaders Rotterdam and Antwerp.
The Nador West Med port complex , whose launch is confirmed for the end of 2026, is causing great concern in Melilla. The Spanish enclave, suffocated by the closure of its commercial customs since 2018, accuses the Madrid government of passivity in the face of the emergence of this new Moroccan logistics giant.
Israeli drones , American missiles and record budget: Morocco is pursuing an ambitious defense policy. This overall rearmament plan benefits from the financial support of Saudi Arabia and the technical expertise of the United States. A new military status for Morocco that questions the passivity of the Spanish government in the face of these issues
The Spanish Navy has released an aerial image of the amphibious assault ship Galicia (L-51) operating near the Alboran Island . This publication, accompanied by a message emphasizing the "essential" nature of the enclave, is part of the permanent missions of surveillance and protection of waters under Spanish sovereignty. This seven-hectare territory, located in the western Mediterranean, is the subject of claims by Morocco.
At a rally organized this Sunday in Fez for the 82nd anniversary of the Independence Manifesto, Abdelilah Benkirane strongly reaffirmed the Moroccan claim on Ceuta and Melilla .
While the Spanish government continues to repeat that relations with Morocco are going through the "best moment in their history", the reality of this year 2025 is more nuanced. Behind the absence of friction, Rabat maintains the pressure: Spain must take the decisive step on the Sahara, like the United States and France.
Spain is adapting its military system. The rapid modernization of the Royal Armed Forces (FAR), now equipped with cutting-edge technologies, is pushing Madrid to rethink its static defense strategy on its southern flank to face a new security environment.
The promise of a modern border has turned into a nightmare. Instead of facilitating the passage, the new "smart border" system implemented by Spain has transformed the crossing to Nador into a real hell. The Moroccans of the enclave or the Moroccans living abroad (MRE) find themselves trapped in a failing system, enduring endless waiting times.
The latest high-level meeting between Madrid and Rabat has left an unfinished taste. While fourteen agreements were signed, the core burning issues - sovereignty, territorial waters, customs - were carefully avoided, illustrating a geopolitical shift where Spain now seems to be subject to the law of a Moroccan neighbor in full strategic ascent.
The warning from the Polisario Front to Spain awakens old geopolitical demons. By evoking a possible threat to the Canary Islands , the Sahrawi separatists are highlighting the expansionist doctrine of the "Great Morocco", born in the 1920s and which continues to shape, in the background, the relations between Rabat and Madrid.
Buoyed by recent diplomatic advances at the UN , Morocco is demanding full management of the airspace over the Sahara and its maritime waters. This approach aims to close the status quo inherited from 1976 to complete its territorial sovereignty, now including the strategic resources of the Tropic mountain.
The Spanish and Moroccan governments are meeting in Madrid on Thursday for a High-Level Meeting (RAN) with multiple stakes. While migration cooperation has shown spectacular results, there are still gray areas, particularly on the fluidity of trade at land borders, in a diplomatic context marked by Rabat’s advances on the Sahara issue.