Mas has established contacts with Morocco and Algeria and would be supported by Britons and Scandinavians according to a newspaper from Maghreb

As reported in the cover of journal lemag.ma, edited in French and specialized in Maghrebi issues and based in Marrakech, Catalan government would have delivered the letter by Artur Mas with information on the Catalan sovereigntist process to Morocco and Algeria, according to information reported at the London-based newspaper Al Quds Al-Arabi.


The newspaper explains that, given the intransigence of Madrid government which rejects any kind of action against its territorial integrity, Catalan separatists want to internationalize the process and put Madrid under pressure.
And also took for granted that, after having been supported by Britons and Scandinavians, and having collected a negative to intervene in his favour from French and Germans, the Catalan government has written to Rabat and Alger seeking their support.
The London-based newspaper written in Arabic states that there is no official announcement on these two messages yet, they have not been denied by the Catalan government as well, which would not like to publicize it.
According to the same source, a would-be “independent” Catalonia sees its ties to Morocco as an strategic issue, given the fact that an important part of the Catalan economy depends on the Moroccan kingdom.

It reminds that Catalonia exports 3,000 million Euro in goods and services to Morocco every year, and most of the Spanish enterprises which invest in the kingdom are from Catalonia.

It adds that Catalans see the 250,000 Moroccan living in Catalonia as greatly important because of the 30,000 Moroccan citizens with right to vote at the next referendum on self-determination.

Regarding Algeria, it says that its reputation for being great supporters of separatism wherever it is (like the case of Sahrawi at the Polisario) has encouraged Catalans to establish contacts with Alger.

Finally, it wonders whether the Catalan issue would alter the relations between Morocco and Madrid, as does the Sahrawi issue intermittently, and whether Morocco would obtain a letter for negotiation from its whimsical Northern neighbour, or if the Moroccan diplomacy would otherwise maintain its immutable dogma on territorial integrity.