Rabat – Spain’s new Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy pledged a ‘new phase’ in relations with Morocco during a visit to Rabat on Wednesday, despite his conservative People’s Party’s (PP) tough stance on several disagreements with Spain’s Arab neighbour.

At a press conference with Morocco’s new Islamist head of government Abdelilah Benkirane, Rajoy praised recent reforms carried out by King Mohammed VI as an ‘example to follow,’ placing Morocco among the most progressive Arab states.

Morocco held elections in November under a new constitution reducing the powers of the king, following months of demonstrations in the context of the Arab Spring.

Rajoy announced the relaunch of high-level annual meetings between Madrid and Rabat which had not been held since 2008.

Benkirane said bilateral relations would inevitably ‘improve day by day.’

New Spanish premiers traditionally make their first foreign visit to Morocco.

Rajoy, who ousted former prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s Socialists in the November 20 elections, did not discuss any controversial subjects in depth, according to Moroccan diplomatic sources.

The sources described the visit as merely an initial contact between the two prime ministers.

In its electoral programme, the PP supported a referendum on the self-determination of Western Sahara, a Moroccan-held territory which Rabat regards as its own.

The PP also stresses the Spanishness of the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, over which Morocco claims sovereignty.

‘Spain and Morocco are obliged to get along,’ although ‘that will be more difficult with Rajoy’ than under his predecessor, Benkirane said after his election victory.

No such comments were heard during Rajoy’s visit. Morocco even expressed willingness to negotiate a new fishing agreement with the European Union, if its territorial waters were respected, foreign ministry sources said.

They were referring to the waters off Western Sahara, where most of the fishing has taken place.

The previous fishing agreement was scrapped in December by the European Parliament, which said Morocco was not sharing the benefits of the deal with the population of Western Sahara.

The parliament also justified its decision with the allegedly high cost of the agreement for the EU, and stressed the danger of over-fishing.

The country most affected by the European Parliament’s decision was Spain, where dozens of fishing vessels were left moored.

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