Spain calls on NATO to boost engagement in the Maghreb

Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has called on NATO to increase its engagement across the Maghreb in the face of potential security threats.

His comments come as NATO enhanced its presence across the eastern part of the military alliance this month in response to the Ukraine crisis. Over the past week, NATO allies have also deployed additional ships and fighter jets to eastern Europe as part of the body’s deterrence effort.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Albares said: “The Mediterranean, the Maghreb, the Sahel and Sub-Saharan Africa are vital for NATO and for Europe.”

“We talk about a Nato 360-degree approach [to respond to threats] but, without content, this will be just a slogan . . . NATO needs to think about what its role is going to be.”

Spain is preparing to host the next NATO summit in Madrid between 29-30 June, and leaders are set to make key decisions to implement a new strategic concept, which has not been updated since 2010.

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Speaking ahead of the summit, Albares outlined ways for NATO to engage with the southern region, including via “political dialogue, police and army training and help with coastal patrols”.

Heightened tensions in the region prompted Spanish Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, to make an urgent trip to Algeria last October to ensure gas supplies would not be disrupted after they threatened to halt gas flows through Morocco.

Relations between Morocco and Algeria deteriorated last August when Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ramtane Lamamra, officially cut ties with Morocco over what he called Rabat’s “hostile tendencies” towards Algeria.

While Algeria supplies 40 per cent of Spain’s natural gas, much of this flowed through a 13.5 billion-cubic-meter Maghreb-Europe (GME) pipeline via Morocco. However, Algeria no longer needs this channel after it inaugurated a second gas pipeline that connects it directly to southern Spain.

Albares also noted mounting security issues in the Sahel, “Jihadism is still there, as well as all kinds of illicit trafficking: arms, humans, drugs.”

Last year, NATO’s Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, addressed the security environment in the Sahel saying the deteriorating situation was of ‘great concern’.