French President Emmanuel Macron and the King of Morocco Mohammed VI will renew ties deeply weakened by three years of estrangement on Monday in Rabat and give new impetus to the historic partnership between this Maghreb country and the former colonial power.
“We intend to rebuild (our relationship) but also project ourselves into the decades to come”by placing the “very high bar in many areas”sketched the head of French diplomacy Jean-Noël Barrot in the French weekly La Tribune Dimanche.
A sign of the desire to restore all its luster to this partnership, Emmanuel Macron, who is expected at 5:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m. GMT) in Rabat with his wife Brigitte for a three-day state visit, will be accompanied by an imposing delegation.
No less than nine ministers will accompany him, including those of the Interior Bruno Retailleau, eagerly awaited on the subjects of immigration, of the Economy Antoine Armand, of National Education Anne Genetet and of Culture Rachida Dati, of Moroccan origin.
The leaders of the Engie, Alstom, Safran, TotalEnergies and Suez groups will be on the trip, as will representatives of Airbus, Veolia, Thalès and the construction specialist Colas.
Writer Leïla Slimani in London, May 23, 2023 / JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP/Archives
The Franco-Moroccan cultural world will also be in the spotlight, from writers Tahar Benjelloun and Leïla Slimani to comedian Djamel Debbouze and actor Gérard Darmon.
The King of Morocco will not be outdone by his guest, whom he will welcome in person at Rabat airport, to the sound of 21 cannon shots.
Litigation
The two heads of state will then travel aboard a ceremonial car to the Royal Palace for a face-to-face meeting followed by the signing of agreements on energy, water, education and internal security.
The two leaders intend on this occasion to draw a line under a series of disputes, from suspicions of telephone tapping by President Macron to the halving of the number of visas granted to Moroccans in 2021-2022 to push Rabat to take back its nationals in situation irregular.
The priority given by the French president to Algeria after his re-election in 2022 had also cast a chill, while the two Maghreb powers are in direct opposition, particularly over Western Sahara.
The former Spanish colony, considered a “non-self-governing territory” by the UN, has pitted Morocco against the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front, supported by Algiers, for half a century.
These multiple shocks have constantly led to the postponement of Emmanuel Macron’s state visit, initially planned for the beginning of 2020, after a first visit in June 2017 and another in 2018.
President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée Palace in Paris, October 25, 2024 / Louise Delmotte / POOL/AFP
Mr. Macron ultimately opted for warming with Morocco, where France has significant economic interests, expressing support in July for a solution in Western Sahara “within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty”.
Contracts
A position that he should reaffirm loud and clear during a highly anticipated speech to Parliament on Tuesday, while Morocco considers Western Sahara as a major national issue.
Rabat now hopes that this realignment of the French position will result in hard investments in this territory with enormous fishing, solar, wind and phosphate resources.
The visit of the French president could also result in a shower of contracts, even if the two parties remained very discreet until the last minute on the final negotiations in progress.
Airbus Helicopters could thus sell 12 to 18 Caracals to the Moroccan Armed Forces during the visit, according to consistent sources.
This photo provided by the MAP news agency on July 30, 2024 shows Morocco’s King Mohammed VI delivering a speech to the nation, at the Royal Palace in Tetouan / – / Moroccan Press Agency/AFP/Archives
France also hopes to remain Morocco’s preferred service provider for the extension of the high-speed train line between Tangier and Agadir, after the inauguration with great fanfare of the first section by Mohammed VI and Emmanuel Macron in 2018.
On the immigration side, the new French Minister of the Interior, very offensive, wants to force Morocco to take back its nationals arrested in an irregular situation.
But after the 2021-2022 visa crisis, the French government promises to move forward in a spirit of dialogue. “We must learn from the mistakes of the past” and address the issue “as part of a global partnership”insists Jean-Noël Barrot.
