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Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita received today his French counterpart Chatherine Colonna in Rabat, with the two officials discussing the state of bilateral relations after months of perceived diplomatic tension between Paris and Rabat.
Colonna’s visit also comes as part of France’s preparation for Emmanuel Macron’s trip to Morocco in early 2023.
In recent months, many observers have maintained that France’s visa restrictions against Moroccan travelers and the country’s “ambiguous” position on the Western Sahara dispute were the main reasons for the souring of the long-standing relationship between France and Morocco.
Bourita and Colonna helda joint press conference to highlight the points discussed following the meeting.
On the eve of their meeting today, Colonna gave an interview to the Moroccan newspaper Le Matin. In it, the chief of French diplomacy opened up about the current crisis between Paris and Rabat, stressing France’s readiness to mend the visibly broken friendship.
Western Sahara
France’s perceptibly warm comments in Morocco’s Autonomy Plan have fallen noticeably short of expressing unambiguous support for Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara.
As a result, many political observers and officials in Morocco have been calling on France to clarify its position on the Western Sahara question.
The appeal was further pushed following the growing support for Morocco’s position over Western Sahara, especially after the US recognition of the Moroccan Autonomy Plan as the most serious and credible basis to end the decades-old dispute.
After recalling her country’s support for the UN-led political process and the UNSG envoy’s efforts, Colonna stressed that France’s position has been “clear from the beginning.”
She said: “As for the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco in 2007, we did not wait for the decision of such and such a country to support it. Our position is clear and known. From the start, it has been a position clearly favorable to Morocco which we repeat everywhere.”
Morocco has made it repeatedly clear over the past months that it will no longer accept ambiguous positions with regards to its territorial integrity.
In August, King Mohammed VI stressed that the Sahara dossier “is the lens through which Morocco looks at the world, and it is the clear and simple criterion through which it measures the sincerity of friendships and the effectiveness of partnerships.”
The monarch empathically called on all of Morocco’s traditional and new partners whose positions about the Sahara are ambiguous to “clarify their positions and to review their content in an unequivocal way.”
Following the King’s speech, both Germany and France, who had also experienced months of cold relations with Morocco, came out in support of the Moroccan Autonomy Plan. While France has so far not been as clear about its position, Colonna vaguely suggested that Morocco “knows it can count on France.”
Visa restrictions
In 2021, France sparked outrage in Morocco after it decided to cut the number of visas granted to Moroccans and Algerians by 50%.
Further exacerbating the situation, France accused Morocco of “unwillingness” to cooperate in the extradition of irregular Moroccan migrants in France.
Morocco responded to the claims by describing the French government’s move as “unjustified.”
Moroccan Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita emphasized that Morocco has always dealt with “the issue of migration and the movement of individuals with great responsibility and balance.”
Addressing the controversy surrounding the visa restrictions, Colonna stressed that the two countries have over the past weeks held “many exchanges” to discuss the visa issue.
Without specifying whether or not France will lift the restrictions, Colonna said: “I am glad that we are returning to full consular cooperation. It is important to bring human exchanges between our two countries back to the level that reflects the deep intertwining of our two societies.”
As Paris appears ready to defuse the situation, it remains to be seen whether France will announce measures that will normalize the wide-ranging cooperation between the two countries.
Recently, AFP quoted a French government spokesperson who confirmed that France is working to find “appeasement gestures” to put an end to the lingering crisis with Morocco.
Read Also: France Seeking to End Political Crisis With Morocco
