In an attempt of evading the “Baker Plan” without contravening what has been established in the 1495 Resolution, Morocco presented in December 2003 a project for the creation of the “Autonomous Region of Sahara” ﴾hereafter referred to as ARS﴿.
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Is Morocco the Western Sahara ‘administering power’ according to United Nations or is it instead an occupying power? The answer, far from being purely theoretical, has serious practical, political and economic consequences. The most im-mediate would affect nothing less than the possibility of brokering a fishing agreement on Sahrawi waters. The ratification of the fishing agreement signed on July 2005 by European Commission and Morocco is still on process and might result seriously affected by this answer.
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Almost four million foreign nationals live in Spain today. The great majority of these immigrants come from outside the European Union; they have arrived to our country in recent years from Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. In the last three years, the influx of illegal immigrants to our territory has indeed increased in spectacular fashion. Therefore, whereas in 2003, we estimate the arrival of 370,000 immigrants, that number rose to 650,000 in 2004 and that number might be even higher in 2005 according to Euroestar. This real immigration boom, encouraged by the irresponsible policy carried out by the current government – better known as “papeles para todos" demanding legalization of all foreigners on Span-ish territory who want to stay – threatens to go beyond the Spanish society’s ability to assimilate them and it might generate a deep social crisis in our country.
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In spite of the image that the Socialist Government wants to project, Spain has not gotten rid of the Islamic terrorist threat after having withdrawn from Iraq. Though an attempted bombing of the track of the high-speed AVE train Madrid-Seville right after the Madrid bombings could have been interpreted as a part of the same sequence, we cannot say the same about the plans, thwarted by the Police, to blow up the Audiencia Nacional (a special court with competence for trying terrorist offenses) in Madrid; or about the never-ending trail of ter-rorist detentions related to Al-Qaeda in our country. In Spain, like in the rest of Europe, the Islamic terrorist threat has only increased.
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The United States is at present the only superpower that survived the Cold War and the only country with a global strategic projection.In contrast, the European Union is undergoing difficulties as it attempts to consolidate its integration process and to outline its role in the international arena.On the other hand, Spain is in the beginning of the 21st Century a medium power, which is gearing up to become a leading strategic country.It is in this context that Spain has the opportunity to build up a special relationship with the U.S., which on top of the strategic value that it entails enables the reinforcement of the transatlantic link.The distinctive attribute of the new bilateral relationship --in contrast to those of the past--is the fact that it is not based on the grounds of individual national interests but on a common interest to achieving a safer, better, more democratic world.
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