Morocco: Macron and Mohammed VI to seal their reconciliation

French President Emmanuel Macron and Moroccan King Mohammed VI will renew ties in Rabat on Monday, which have been deeply strained by three years of disagreements, 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 to project ourselves into the decades to come”, by setting the “bar very high in many areas”, outlined 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 impressive delegation.

No fewer than nine ministers will accompany him, including the Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, who is eagerly awaited on the subjects of immigration, the Economy Minister Antoine Armand, the National Education Minister Anne Genetet and the Culture Minister Rachida Dati, of Moroccan origin.

The leaders of the groups Engie, Alstom, Safran, TotalEnergies, Suez 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 © AFP – JUSTIN TALLIS

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 in a ceremonial car to the Royal Palace for a one-on-one meeting followed by the signing of agreements on energy, water, education and internal security.

The two leaders intend to take this opportunity to draw a line under a series of disputes, from President Macron's suspicions of wiretapping to the halving of the number of visas granted to Moroccans in 2021-2022 to push Rabat to take back its illegal nationals.

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 frontal opposition, particularly over Western Sahara.

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The former Spanish colony, considered a “non-autonomous territory” by the UN, has for half a century pitted Morocco against the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front, supported by Algiers.

These multiple shocks have constantly led to the postponement of Emmanuel Macron's state visit, initially planned for early 2020, after a first visit in June 2017 and another in 2018.

President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée Palace in Paris, October 25, 2024 © POOL – Louise Delmotte

Mr Macron ultimately opted for a warming with Morocco, where France has significant economic interests, by expressing his support in July for a solution in Western Sahara “within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty”.

– Contracts –

A position that he is expected to reaffirm loud and clear during a highly anticipated speech on Tuesday before Parliament, while Morocco considers Western Sahara a major national issue.

Rabat now hopes that this realignment of the French position will translate into hard cash investments in this territory with its enormous fish, solar, wind and phosphate resources.

The visit of the French president could also result in a shower of contracts, even if the two parties have remained very discreet until the last minute about the final negotiations in progress.

Airbus Helicopters could thus sell 12 to 18 Caracals to the Moroccan Armed Forces on the occasion of the visit, according to concordant sources.

This photo provided by the MAP news agency on July 30, 2024 shows the King of Morocco Mohammed VI delivering a speech to the nation, at the Royal Palace of Tetouan © Moroccan Press Agency – –

France also hopes to remain Morocco's preferred provider for the extension of the high-speed train line between Tangier and Agadir, after the grand inauguration of the first section by Mohammed VI and Emmanuel Macron in 2018.

On the immigration front, the new French Minister of the Interior, who is very aggressive, wants to force Morocco to take back its nationals arrested in an irregular situation.

But after the visa crisis of 2021-2022, 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.

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