Le Figaro: Cooling in France-Morocco Relations – Algeria, Western Sahara, Emmanuel Macron, pegasus, spy,

According to the Maghreb historian Pierre Vermeeren, there is an unusual coolness 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 specified in the remarks reported by Le Figaro. “Macron does not have the Moroccan fiber of Chirac or Sarkozy,” he says.

According to Corinne Lhac and Eric Mandonet in their book “La nuit chute deux fois”, French President Emmanuel Macron had to call the Moroccan king three times in order to receive the appointment. “In late September, the French government even announced that it was going to halve the number of visas granted to Morocco, in response to Moroccan refusal to repatriate irregular migrants who present it as Moroccan”, points out Le Figaro. , “Rabat took this announcement even more badly because it had high hopes for France, its first ally on the question of Western Sahara”.

Regarding the intense diplomatic activity carried out by Rabat on the subject of the Western Sahara File, the French daily considers it “in contrast to the polite silence that has ruled its relations with France for many years”. Morocco hopes that France will do more to impose solutions to its advantage. In a speech given last November, Mohammed VI made this clear. “Today, we are fully justified in expecting our partners to take a more bold and clear position on the subject of the state’s territorial integrity.” These comments have no effect in France: “However, following Spain’s declaration of support for the Moroccan autonomy plan, France was satisfied to recall its “continuous” position, calling the plan “serious and credible”. As a basis”, to qualify, points out Le Figaro.

Other sources attribute this coolness to the Pegasus software espionage scandal that rocked France and whose main actor is the Cherifian Empire, which seems to have gone so far as to hook up the mobile phone of the highest Gallic representative. The latest news from Spain on spying on Pedro Sanchez’s phone is likely to ignite relations between Paris and Rabat.

#Morocco #France #Western Sahara #Algeria #Pegasus #Spain #Pedrosánchez