French President Emmanuel Macron will pay a state visit to Morocco “at the end of October” to seal the relaunch of the bilateral relationship after a long period of cold, the Elysée announced to Agence France-Presse (AFP), on Friday, September 27. King Mohammed VI sent him a letter of invitation on this date on Thursday, in which he welcomed the “Promising horizons emerge for our two countries”the French presidency specified. This visit will be “the opportunity to give our exceptional partnership a renewed and ambitious vision that covers several strategic sectors and takes into account the priorities of our two countries”added the sovereign, according to the Elysée.
France paved the way for bilateral warming with a gesture towards Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony controlled mainly by Morocco but claimed by the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front. On July 30, Paris reinforced its support for the Rabat plan – which proposes autonomy under its sovereignty –, now considering it as “the only basis” allowing to resolve a conflict that dates back almost 50 years. This gesture was expected by Morocco, which had already taken an important step at the end of 2020 by obtaining recognition by Donald Trump’s US administration of its sovereignty over this territory, in exchange for a rapprochement with Israel.
Under pressure from Rabat, France, a former colonial power with a large Moroccan diaspora, finally changed its position, after Berlin and Madrid. Without expressly recognizing the “Moroccan” character of Western Sahara, Macron then accepted that “the present and the future [de ce territoire] “they fall within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty”. This change in position, as expected, aroused the ire of Algiers, which supports the Polisario Front and immediately recalled its ambassador in Paris, once again plunging the bilateral relationship into confusion. Separatists demand a self-determination referendum planned during the ceasefire in 1991, but never organized.
By finally making this visit to Morocco, periodically mentioned but constantly postponed from 2022, Macron intends to turn the page on a series of other tensions. The policy of rapprochement that the French president had initiated with Algeria, which broke diplomatic relations with Rabat in 2021, had already irritated Morocco to the maximum. In 2021, the French decision to halve the visas granted to Moroccans was also particularly criticized. As with other Maghreb countries, its goal was to encourage Rabat to cooperate more on illegal immigration. Just over a year later, Paris changed course and its visa policy returned to normal.
New economic perspectives
On the French side, we barely appreciated the revelations that Macron and his ministers’ phones had been attacked in 2019 by Morocco, a user of the Israeli Pegasus spy software, something that Rabat had denied.
The Franco-Moroccan warming opens up new economic and commercial perspectives for French companies, which have kept a low profile in recent years amid the accumulation of disputes. The day after Paris changed its position, French engineering company Egis won a contract to extend the high-speed train line between Kenitra and Marrakech.
Western Sahara, a territory rich in fish waters and phosphates, has significant economic potential. With its enormous solar and wind resources, it is strategic for the economic development of the kingdom, which has turned decisively towards renewable energies and hopes to position itself in the green hydrogen market. French companies are already present there, in particular the energy company Engie for the construction of a water desalination station and a wind farm.
France also does not despair of recovering its relations with Algeria despite this umpteenth outbreak of fever. Emmanuel Macron said so that he was determined to continue “the work of memory, truth and reconciliation” after the re-election of his counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune, on September 7, to whom he addressed his “most sincere congratulations”.
