Sánchez appears in Morocco at the start of his vacation
Sánchez has traveled on a commercial airliner to the Marrakech airport, in what is defined as a “strictly private” trip, according to Moncloa sources, who stress that it has been “entirely paid for with own resources” by the president and in which no institutional agenda is contemplated. Although it was initially speculated that Sánchez would travel to Lanzarote, the same sources explain that the acting head of the Executive has remained in Madrid until Tuesday.
Before the official confirmation, the information was in four Moroccan media outlets, including Rue 20, considered to be related to the security apparatus.. La Moncloa remained silent in response to the questions made by El Confidencial in this regard. The Moroccan digital newspapers assure that Sánchez arrived on Tuesday at 11 in the morning (12:00 Spanish peninsular time) at Menara, the Marrakech airport. You will stay in a luxury hotel and intend to visit the city starting with the famous Jamaa el Fnaa square.
The Kech 24 newspaper indicates that the president's stay in Morocco will end in Tetouan, in the north of the country, very close to Rincón, which is where King Mohamed VI is on vacation.. The Throne Festival ceremonies concluded on Monday in Tetouan because the monarch spends a large part of the summer there. In the images of the various ceremonies, the sovereign appeared in better shape than on June 29, on the occasion of the religious festival of Aid Al-Adha (Sacrifice), which was also celebrated in Tetouan.. If this speculation from Kech 24 is true, this could be the invitation that the Alaouite sovereign extended to Sánchez on February 1, when he continued his vacation in Gabon and did not go to Rabat to receive him in audience, as is usual, at margin of the summit between the governments of Spain and Morocco.
The election of Morocco for part of the presidential vacation will surely provoke a controversy in Spain. It is possible that the president wanted to stage the excellent relationship he maintains with the southern neighbor after the support given to the solution advocated by Rabat to resolve the Western Sahara conflict. In exchange for this concession, however, it has not obtained large counterparts. Proof of this is that the customs of Ceuta and Melilla with Morocco, whose opening Sánchez announced on April 7, 2022, do not exist today.
Sánchez is the first president of the Spanish Government to spend part of his vacation abroad. Unlike Spain, where top politicians do not usually spend their vacations abroad, especially in Morocco, politicians from other European countries do.. The French are the ones who visit Morocco most frequently, including the presidents of the Republic such as Jacques Chirac or Nicolas Sarzoky. The Moroccan authorities are hospitable and do not conceive that foreign tourists of that level can pay for hotels or meals in their country.
The great exception in Spain was former President Felipe González who, after leaving office, traveled regularly for years to Tangier and Asila, in northern Morocco, to enjoy vacation days