By finally going to Rabat, at the invitation of the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, the President of the Republic, with an imposing delegation, came to seal three years of delays and misunderstandings between Paris and Rabat .
It was time, in fact, to highlight what is now agreed to qualify as “reinforced exceptional partnership”. This civilizational relationship reminds us that the Shereefian Kingdom draws on 1,300 years of Fatimid, Almohad dynastic lineage, since the Idrisid Caliphate in 788.
Obviously, this is neither about denying nor absolving the shared responsibilities regarding these years of diplomatic quarrels. It should nevertheless be remembered that if it were not for the vivacity of an effective “parallel diplomacy”, where parliamentarians, academics, business leaders, artists, athletes, acted discreetly to smooth out the angles, the main “irritants” between the France and Morocco, would not have been resolved; like the questioning of the conditionality of the granting of visas; the lifting of the delays perceived in France regarding the readmission of Moroccan OQTFs; the resolution of “instrumentalized” quarrels, such as those raised by the use of the Pegasus software and its corollary of accusations of espionage, notably issued by the French presidency, in 2021.
All the lights are now green, especially now that the thorny issue of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara has been recognized by Emmanuel Macron, during his speech – delivered to members of the Houses of Representatives and that of Advisors. . However, a number of countries – like the former colonial power until 1975, Spain – have already agreed for a long time that the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco, in April 2007, remains the only solution to resolve the conflict in Western Sahara!
France has regained its legitimate place as Morocco's leading investor and third supplier
However, it took seventeen years for France to agree too! It remains to accompany the verb with the gesture and convince those who wanted to “undress Peter to dress Paul”, trading in the excellence and continuity of a harmonious relationship with Rabat that which is much more erratic with Algiers.
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France, through the approximately one thousand French companies present in the Shereef Kingdom, has regained its rightful place as the leading investor and third supplier, with an annual trade volume of around 14 billion euros. The 22 bilateral agreements, worth around 10 billion euros, confirm, indeed, the need to contribute concretely to the establishment of a bilateral strategic framework.
The 80,000 French people who reside in Morocco, as well as the 5 million French tourists who come there occasionally, without forgetting the 53,000 Moroccan students in France and the approximately 1.6 million Moroccans in France, thus constitute a solid base, of either side of the Mediterranean.
The President of the Republic, moreover, recalled that one could “at the same time” be a full French citizen and be deeply attached to one’s land of origin. He didn't invent anything: Hassan II, the father of the current Moroccan sovereign, didn't he like to compare Morocco to “a tree whose roots are anchored in Africa, but which breathes through its leaves in Europe” ?
*Emmanuel Dupuy is president of the Institute Foresight and Security in Europe (IPSE).
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