French President Emmanuel Macron is exploring “options“ for his announced October visit to Morocco, but an exact date has yet to be determined, learns Hespress from the Elysee Presidential Palace.
Macron had announced an upcoming visit to Morocco at the end of next October, according to what he personally stated during a visit to the “Touquet Music Beach Festival,” immediately after his return from an official visit to Algeria.
Hespress contacted the Elysee Palace, which confirmed, in a brief message, “the possibility of the French president visiting Morocco,” stressing that “there are indeed options regarding this possible trip, but no travel can be confirmed at the moment.”
The French president recently visited Algeria, in his first diplomatic trip in the Maghreb region after his re-election for a second presidential term.
After assuming the presidency in 2017, Rabat was the first Maghreb destination for President Emmanuel Macron in mid-June, described as a “special friendship visit.”
But tensions have been slowly rising between Paris in Rabat since last year, when in September 2021, Paris announced that it would reduce the number of visas granted to Algerian and Moroccan nationals by 50% and Tunisians by 30%, due to the “refusal” of these countries to repatriate their nationals with an irregular status.
This decision, described by many as unjustified and radical, has resulted in many Moroccans assuming the role of collateral victims, especially those who regularly travel to France for family visits, business trips or tourist stays.
NGOs have gathered and pursued legal action against European consulates -mostly French, before the European court for the unjustified and systematic visa refusals.
This week, the French government announced it has normalized visa procedures for Tunisian, without mention of the restrictions imposed on both Moroccan and Algerian nationals.
In addition to the bitter taste France’s visa restrictions have left many Moroccans with, Paris’ manifest indisposition to take a clear stance on the Western Sahara issue is exacerbating the tense phase the historic allies are experiencing.
“The lense through which Morocco considers its environment, the clear and simple criterion by which it measures the sincerity of friendships and the effectiveness of partnerships,” the Western Sahara could be the defining factor of bilateral relations between Morocco and France moving forward, as stated by King Mohammed VI in his recent August 20 speech.
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