Two senior Spanish ministers, both personally embroiled in the Pegasus spyware affair, have attracted national attention after appearing at a party hosted by the Moroccan embassy in Madrid despite having had both of their phones recently bugged by the Moroccan intelligence services.
Both Spanish Minister for the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and his colleague the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, who had their phones hacked by Moroccan spies in an espionage scandal that rocked Spanish politics, attended a reception in honour of Moroccan King Mohamed VI.
Spanish-Moroccan relations have become rocky in recent years over accusations of a vast blackmailing operation by the Moroccan intelligence services after it was revealed that the phones of hundreds of senior Spanish officials and activists had been bugged by Morocco, using Israeli-designed Pegasus spyware.
The purpose of this espionage was to exact leverage over the ruling socialist government in Madrid. Pundits noted a pro-Moroccan policy shift in the administration of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez over the issue of Western Sahara, where Morocco is fighting local militias and various economic disputes involving Rabat.
A criminal investigation into the use of spyware by Morocco in Spain was shelved last month after non-compliance from the Israel security company NSO who designed the Pegasus software.
Spain is still coming to terms with an inconclusive national election last month, which saw a surprise rebound for the ruling left-wing PSOE against a coalition of the Right in the form of the conservative Partido Popular party and populist VOX.
Sánchez and his socialist party are now searching for prospective coalition partners in the form of regional separatists amid rumours of another snap election as Spanish politics remain at a general standstill until Parliament reassembles on August 17th.
Sánchez himself provoked anger from both the Left and the Right by going on a surprise holiday to Morocco this week, which critics allege has covert political goals.
Elsewhere, the international ramifications of Moroccan spying have been profound, with former European Parliament Vice-President Eva Kaili alleging that she was framed by Spanish and Moroccan spies attempting to thwart an EU investigation into the use of Pegasus spyware.
Kaili is just one of multiple MEPs embroiled in the slowly unfurling Qatargate scandal, which involves the alleged bribery of senior officials by nations such as Morocco and Qatar to help shift EU policy in their favour.
Morocco has augmented its position geopolitically in recent years, allying with the United States and Israel by signing the Abraham Accords that normalised relations with the state of Israel and leading an anti-Iranian coalition in the Muslim world.
