Feijóo gets 'cocky' with Morocco to wear down Sánchez: will he have stopped to think about the mess he is getting Spain into if he manages to become President?

Alberto Núñez Feijóo was not going to be less than Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid. Ayuso recently said in an interview that Spain had to break relations with Morocco and remained unfazed, as is colloquially said. I say this because I believe that Isabel Díaz Ayuso, with those hyperboles to which she has accustomed us, does not really think about the consequences that may arise from her words.

But Alberto Núñez Feijóo said: I will not be less. What did the Popular Party do? Well, as the title of this videoblog says —excuse the colloquialism, but so that we understand each other perfectly—, it wanted to act tough with Morocco. The PP's position is reflected in its own statement. After Isabel Díaz Ayuso said that relations with Morocco had to be broken, Alberto Núñez Feijóo himself stated verbatim: “Morocco is responsible for what happened by action or omission”.

Well, now the Popular Party is, as is colloquially said, acting tough with Morocco. And the question is: will Alberto Núñez Feijóo, national leader of the Popular Party and possible future president of the Government of Spain —we will see if he succeeds—, have stopped to think about the consequences of his words? I don't think so. I believe that in the PP they are still not aware of how relations with Morocco really work.

Any journalist who has sources in the Government of Spain, both in the current and in previous governments, knows this. Moreover, Feijóo can ask José María Aznar or Mariano Rajoy, former presidents of the Government. Let him ask them how this business of relations with Morocco works and let them tell him the truth. Because the truth is the following: Morocco, much to our regret, holds all the cards.

Is Morocco a democracy? No. Morocco is not a democracy, obviously. It is a country whose Government uses its own civilian population, Moroccan citizens who legitimately seek a better future in Spain, as an instrument of pressure on our country. And they are not to blame. Spaniards also emigrated during Franco's dictatorship seeking a better future outside of Spain. Many Moroccans do exactly that: they seek a better life. People cannot be criminalized for trying to seek a better future, nor can they be held responsible for their Government using them to politically pressure Spain.

But that is the reality. Morocco has, I insist, the upper hand. What is Alberto Núñez Feijóo doing then? Trying to anger Morocco as much as possible —as Rajoy would say— so that, if one day he manages to become president of the Government, we have a migratory crisis like the current one in Ceuta multiplied by ten?

Because it can happen. If Feijóo manages to anger Morocco a lot and Ayuso manages to anger Morocco a lot, I am going to tell you the reality even if it is politically incorrect: Morocco can open the border even more. And instead of finding ourselves with 80,000 Moroccan citizens trying to reach Spain, we can find ourselves with 300,000. And not only in Ceuta or Melilla, but also on the coasts of Malaga, Granada or Cadiz.

Be careful, because perhaps the Popular Party, Feijóo and also Ayuso, with so much verbiage and so much hyperbole, have not stopped to think about the consequences. And these consequences may not even be counterproductive for them politically. They can be counterproductive for Spain, for our interests as a country.

Therefore, as much as they say they defend Spain and as much patriotism as they boast about, let them also think about what consequences their words can have for Spain. Because Morocco can open the border and we can find ourselves with hundreds of thousands of people trying to enter our country. People who, I insist, legitimately seek a better future and who cannot be criminalized for it.

What is Feijóo going to do in that case? Send the entire Spanish Army to prevent it? Because there is no Spanish Army capable of containing the simultaneous entry of 300,000 people. What is the Army going to do? Shoot them? Shoot against 300,000 Moroccan citizens trying to enter Spain? I don't know what solution Alberto Núñez Feijóo proposes.

But there is something he should understand: in foreign policy, sometimes, arrogance is not valid. Sometimes you have to swallow words. And that is what the Government of Spain is trying to do. Better or worse. Many things can certainly be criticized, among them the foresight in the face of this crisis. But what cannot be reproached is that it applies diplomacy in this matter and that it does not charge against Morocco as much as the PP or Vox would perhaps like.

Because there are things that a Government cannot do, no matter how much it politically wants to do them, simply because they would be harmful to Spain and could further aggravate the situation.

That is the reality. So, what is the solution Feijóo proposes? To anger Morocco very, very, very much so that, if he ever comes to power, the migratory crisis will be even worse than the current one? So that there are even more people trying to enter Spain and the situation is even more difficult to manage? Is that what he is looking for?

I believe, I insist, that Feijóo is not being consistent or, directly, has not thought about the consequences of his words. And Ayuso, much less. Diplomacy is necessary, even more so in this case, when Morocco, much to our regret, holds all the cards.

Let Feijóo ask Aznar. Let him ask Mariano Rajoy. Surely both can tell him how relations with Morocco really work. Perhaps they will explain to him that Spain depends every day on Moroccan cooperation so that the border does not remain completely open. And perhaps they will also explain to him that, much to our regret, Spain needs Morocco very much in migratory and border matters.

And I say this making something very clear: Morocco is not a democracy. I am not pro-Moroccan, far from it. I am pro-reality. I am in favor of understanding that actions and words have consequences.

Perhaps Rajoy and Aznar can explain to Feijóo precisely that: that this is not so easy and that, especially when talking about foreign policy, words have consequences.