In the last weeks, tensions have arisen between Spain and two of its main partners in the Mediterranean – Morocco and Algeria – due to disagreements on maritime borders and on the recognition of the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). In January, the Moroccan Parliament approved two bills aiming to reinforce its legal authority over waters off Western Sahara, which included areas of Spain’s territorial waters surrounding the Canary Islands. Immediately afterwards, the Spanish FM Arancha González Laya travelled to Rabat and both countries agreed to hold talks over their maritime boundaries. But tensions on maritime borders have also arisen in Spanish-Algerian relations. Spain has recently expressed its disagreement with a 2018 Algerian decree defining 200 maritime miles of exclusive economic area, which overlap with its territorial waters south of the Balearic Islands. Both disputes add tension to an issue confronting the two Maghreb neighbours and their bilateral relations with Spain: the Western Sahara. On 21 February, the Spanish Secretary of State for Social Affairs, Nacho Álvarez, received the SADR’s representative for Social Affairs Suilma Hay Emhamed Salem and referred to her as “Minister”. Morocco’s FM Nasser Bourita immediately made a claim demanding whether this implied Spain’s official recognition of SADR, and González Laya reacted by pointing out these declarations did not represent Spain’s official position. In turn, this was perceived by the Polisario Front as Spain being too close to Rabat’s interests. This incident, together with the tensions over maritime borders, could be behind the unexpected cancelation of the Spanish FM visit to Algiers by the Algerian government on 25 February. Both countries are key trade partners with Spain, which is also heavily depending on them for migration management, in the case of Morocco, and gas imports, when it comes to Algeria.