It was the top priority for the National Rally (RN). Unable to agree on the sharing of friendship groups with foreign countries, the parties represented in the National Assembly had to resort to the so-called “round robin” method, choosing their country of choice in turn. predilection, in order of importance in numbers in the hemicycle.
The formation of Marine Le Pen, which therefore had the honor of opening the ball, did not hesitate for a second: its first choice was the France-Morocco Friendship group. In Marine Le Pen’s entourage, it was obvious, as Morocco established itself as a “great country of diplomacy and economic development” and like an actor “important in the fight against immigration”
The relationship preserved
Will the presidency of this group be central in the relationship between the two countries? “We must neither maximize nor minimize its importance, it serves above all for good collaboration between the two national chambers”underlines Yassine El Yattioui, secretary general of the NejMaroc research center, teacher at Lumière Lyon II University. For the expert, the RN line is “light years away” of the current majority in Morocco, led by Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch. His center-right party, the National Rally of Independents (RNI), has little to share with the RN, apart from a similarity in name.
To hear it, however, the essence of the relationship will be preserved. “Sovereignty over Western Sahara constitutes the pillar of Moroccan diplomacy, and neither the FN in its time, nor the RN today, has ever contested this”. Nothing therefore seems to be able to break the warming between Paris and Rabat, accelerated since Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed France’s position last July: Morocco has control over the future of this territory contested by the Sahrawi separatists, supported by Algeria.
Since the origins
The links between the RN and Morocco are old. They go back to Jean–Marie Le Pen, whose tribute ceremony has just been celebrated, Thursday January 16, at the Notre-Dame du Val de Grâce church, in Paris. The founder of the FN liked to say that as a young sailor, he fished for sardines off the coast of Agadir, and that later, in December 1990, he was received by King Hassan II during a visit by his parliamentary group to the Canary Islands. . He will retain a deep “admiration” for the sovereign, flattered that the latter calls him “Mr. President” – only on party grounds. “He had a frank opinion”remembered the far-right leader in an interview given in 2007 to La Gazette du Maroc. The two men shared the same vision of national identity. Opposed to mixed marriages, Hassan II believed that Moroccans in France “will never be 100% French”.
-Times have changed. At the ideological level, the Moroccan party which is closest to the RN is undoubtedly the Istiqlal, a very nationalist movement, defender of the “Great Morocco “. The latter counted a lot in the 1960s, but no longer has much weight today. For Yassine El Yattioui, the RN’s positions on immigration could tense up Moroccan parliamentarians, particularly those of the RNI, within the France-Morocco friendship group. “If the RN plays the provocation card in this area, it will find fervent defenders of the diaspora and student migration facing it”.
Israel, Egypt, Italy… A geopolitics of the RN
The other presidencies of the friendship groups chosen by the RN suggest an international approach. In all, the party is expected to win 33, including those with Israel and Egypt. The party also placed in its purse that with Italy, led by the far-right leader, Giorgia Meloni. Choices based on affinities are also part of a strategy. “The RN seems to want to begin on an international scale the work of demonization started on the national scene”estimates Yassine El Yattioui.
Rabat also finds an advantage in speaking to the RN through this group of Franco-Moroccan friendships, while King Mohammed VI, unlike his father, has made it a principle never to receive party leaders. “Morocco has shown itself capable of working with several populists, taking note, in a very pragmatic manner, of the political changes in partner countries. Trump, back in power, is undoubtedly today the most powerful defender of the Moroccan cause”estimates the expert.