The Partido Popular and Coalición Canaria have submitted a joint motion to the Tenerife Island Council calling on the Spanish Government to immediately block the sale of logistics assets belonging to the Boluda group to the Moroccan state-owned company Marsa Maroc. CC and PP are therefore backing the position of Nueva Canarias leader and president of Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales, who was the first to call on the Spanish Government to activate the anti-takeover shield. In addition to formally blocking the transaction, the motion calls on the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Port Authority to urgently prepare a technical impact report. The analysis must assess how the Moroccan entry would affect effective competition, berthing lines and local logistics tariffs.
The initiative seeks to activate the government mechanism for monitoring foreign investment in strategic infrastructure in order to prevent capital under Rabat’s control from taking operational positions at the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Parliamentary offensive in the Island Council
The text registered by the two political parties directly appeals to the Council of Ministers and the Economy, Transport and Industry ministries. The corporate move involves the acquisition by Marsa Maroc — an operator controlled by the state-owned Tanger Med group — of stakes and terminals belonging to Boluda Maritime Terminals (BMT), a key operational pillar of island transshipment and logistics.
“There is a clear risk of maritime traffic, investment and logistics activity being diverted to competing Moroccan ports, to the detriment of the economic and strategic interests of Tenerife and the Canary Islands as a whole,” Popular Party spokesman Lope Afonso and nationalist representative José Miguel Ruano warn in the statement of grounds.
The shadow of Tanger Med
Marsa Maroc’s advance in the region coincides with the expansion of the Tanger Med port complex and developments at Nador West Med, facilities that compete directly for international container routes between Africa, Europe and the Americas. In the islands, local authorities believe that allowing an entity dependent on the Moroccan Government to manage land and terminals in Tenerife would compromise the archipelago’s operational sovereignty.
The official document stresses that the presence of Rabat’s state-owned company raises serious questions about the continuity of activity and decision-making on the islands. “Marsa Maroc’s status as a public company linked to the Moroccan state heightens institutional concern over the possible use of this transaction to advance Morocco’s national port interests at the expense of the Canary Islands’ ports,” the document signed for debate in the full council states.
Call for the Anti-Takeover Shield
In response to the cross-border transaction, the motion urges Madrid to apply the “Anti-Takeover Shield,” the regulatory framework established to protect sensitive companies and assets from acquisitions by capital originating outside the European Union. The island institutions argue that the Canary Islands’ outermost-region status requires the supply chain and regional provisioning hubs to be protected.
“This transaction is causing deep concern because of its consequences for the economic and strategic sovereignty of critical infrastructure in the Canary Islands, the preservation of jobs and decision-making centers,” the sponsoring parties maintain in justifying state intervention in the commercial agreement between private companies.
Demand for impact reports
The text calls for a consultation period involving the regional government, the Canary Islands Federation of Islands (FECAI), industry associations and trade unions. The resolution will be sent to the Spanish Parliament, the Ministry of Transport and the regional executive in order to coordinate the Canary Islands’ institutional position before the Economy Ministry.
Standoff on Europe’s southern border
The parliamentary offensive in Tenerife sets a precedent for the geopolitical oversight of port concessions on Europe’s southern border. Control of the island terminals is now being viewed as a national security issue in the face of the commercial expansion of North African state-owned operators in the Atlantic.
The article “CC and PP back Nueva Canarias’ opposition to Rabat’s entry into Boluda” was first published on canarymaritime.com.
