Le Figaro: Coldness in the France-Morocco relationship – Algeria, Western Sahara, Emmanuel Macron, Pegasus, espionage,
According to Maghreb historian Pierre Vermeren, there is an unusual coldness in the special relationship between France and Morocco. “A distance has been created. The new generation of diplomats does not have the familiarity and sympathy of the past for Morocco”, he specifies in remarks reported by Le Figaro. “Macron does not have the Moroccan fiber of a Chirac or Sarkozy,” he adds.
According to Corinne Lhaïk and Éric Mandonnet in their book “La nuit chute deux fois”, to obtain an appointment, French President Emmanuel Macron had to call the King of Morocco three times. “At the end of September, the French government even announced that it was going to halve the number of visas granted to Moroccans, in response to Morocco’s refusal to readmit irregular migrants who are presented to it as Moroccans”, indicates Le Figaro. . “Rabat took this announcement all the more badly because it expected a lot from France, its first ally on the question of Western Sahara”.
Concerning the intense diplomatic activity carried out by Rabat on the subject of the Western Sahara file, the French daily considers that it “contrasts with the polite silence which has reigned for several years on its relationship with France”. Morocco expects France to do more to impose a solution to its advantage. In a speech delivered last November, Mohammed VI made this clear. “Today, we are entirely justified in expecting our partners to formulate much bolder and clearer positions on the subject of the territorial integrity of the kingdom”. These remarks do not seem to have any effect in France: “France was however content, following Spain’s declaration of support for Morocco’s autonomy plan, to recall its “constant” position, qualifying this plan “as a basis for serious and credible discussion”, indicates Le Figaro.
Other sources attribute this coldness to the Pegasus software spy scandal that shook France and whose main actor is the Cherifian kingdom, which seems to have gone so far as to hook the mobile phone of the highest Gallic representative. The latest news from Spain on the spying on Pedro Sanchez’s phone is likely to add fuel to the fire in relations between Paris and Rabat.
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