Rabat- Diplomat Ricardo Díez-Hochleitner Rodríguez will be Spain's new ambassador to Rabat, Spanish daily newspaper El Pais reported quoting diplomatic sources.
The former secretary of the Spanish Royal House between 2002 and 2011 will replace current ambassador José de Carvajal, who will be retiring next June.
El Pais said that Spain's Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo had considered the possibility of keeping the current ambassador in office provisionally pending the formation of the next government or to appoint the embassy's number two as interim ambassador.
However, the strategic nature of relations between Spain and Morocco has obliged the Spanish chief diplomat to appoint a successor to José de Carvajal.
"The question was to find a consensus candidate who cannot be questioned by the future government," El Pais said.
"The choice was limited to Díez-Hochleitner Rodríguez, who is appreciated by King Felipe VI and is known by his Moroccan counterpart King Mohammed VI, besides the fact that he is well respected by the PSOE (the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party.)"
Díez-Hochleitner Rodríguez was ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Austria, Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. He was also Spain's ambassador to the Organization for Cooperation and Economic Affairs (OECD).
The 62-year-old was supposed to be his country's representative in neighboring Portugal, "but Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo has decided to send him to a country with more "delicate relations": Morocco," El Pais concluded.
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