2024-07-15 09:23:02
In 2023, Rabat and Brussels continued to explore and develop new ways to consolidate industrial and economic resilience, exploit the opportunities offered by new industrial value chains, achieve their climate ambition, promote the values of peace and immunize their partnership against any form of interference.
Reflecting this virtuous partnership dynamic rooted in time, contacts at the highest level have never subsided. The latest were the meetings held by the Head of Government, Aziz Akhannouch, last October, with the highest European officials. As well as with the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Leyen, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi, the strengthening of the strong strategic partnership between Morocco and the EU was examined.
Indeed, these exchanges are part of the new boom in relations between Rabat and Brussels, since the Joint Political Declaration adopted in 2019, which laid the foundations of the Euro-Moroccan Partnership for Shared Prosperity and consolidated the climate of trust, mutual interests and common values. All the more so since Morocco is the European Union’s leading economic and commercial partner on the African continent, just as the EU is the Kingdom’s leading commercial partner.
The regular exchanges between Moroccan and European officials demonstrate the centrality of the multidimensional partnership that binds the two parties and confirms their common desire to further strengthen it in several structuring sectors, in a context marked by numerous challenges.
And the achievements are legion, particularly in the areas of the Green Partnership, the first of its kind concluded by the EU with a country in its southern neighbourhood, the Digital Partnership, aviation, fisheries, research and trade.
On the Green Partnership, an initiative that sounds like a recognition by the EU of the “leadership role” that the Kingdom plays in climate adaptation and energy transition, the EU sees it as “a glimmer of hope in the fight against climate change”, according to the European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, who recently spoke at a seminar in Brussels on the Morocco-EU green partnership.
This Partnership is indeed the deepest and most comprehensive focused on sustainability with an EU partner country. It has even become a model for similar EU engagements with other partner countries. In concrete terms, the EU ensures that it is mobilising all its different tools to ensure the implementation of this green partnership, with over €260 million in grants for 2022-2023 alone.
European officials are also banking on the “enormous potential” of green hydrogen in the cooperation between Rabat and Brussels. Morocco is highlighting its key assets and competitive advantages to develop this market, including its significant potential in wind and solar energy and its pipeline of investment projects in renewable energy.
A potential that the EU financing institution is committed to supporting the exploitation of. “The EIB is ready to support solar, wind, energy efficiency and green hydrogen projects in Morocco and intends to strengthen its support for SMEs and the private sector in various areas, including decarbonisation, environmental protection and green finance,” assured the Vice-President of the European Investment Bank, Ricardo Mourinho Felix.
Multidimensional, the partnership between Rabat and Brussels goes beyond the economic field alone. At the end of November, Morocco and the EU co-chaired the work of the virtual conference to launch the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) initiative, on “Education for the prevention and fight against violent extremism leading to terrorism”. An initiative whose main objective is to identify emerging challenges, successes and best approaches in the prevention and fight against violent extremism in the educational field.
During its official launch in May 2023 by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Abroad, Nasser Bourita, and the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Joseph Borell, the two parties had testified to the privileged partnership and the common commitment between the Kingdom and the European Union for the promotion of peace, security and development.
Another area, even dynamic. In the process of strengthening their partnership, the EU has this year brought a new stone to the building of its relations with Morocco, by reiterating “the highest importance” that it attaches to its partnership with the Kingdom in the field of fisheries, and “the essential interest” that it attaches to its continuation “in a spirit of trust, solidarity and mutual interest”.
The occasion for this affirmation was the holding in Brussels of the 5th session of the Joint Commission responsible for monitoring the Partnership Agreement in the area of sustainable fisheries, which made it possible to make an overall assessment of the four years of implementation of the Fisheries Protocol of 18 July 2019, and which ended on 17 July.
To the great displeasure of certain dissenting voices who are trying to disrupt this common progress through judicial harassment, Morocco and the EU have agreed to continue their cooperation as provided for in the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement, which “remains in force”, in order to deepen their bilateral partnership.
This quality of the partnership between Morocco and the European bloc was, moreover, underlined, a few weeks ago in Rabat, during a working visit to Morocco by Commissioner Varhelyi, who had reiterated the place of the Kingdom for the EU, as a “flagship country and pillar of stability in the region”.
Matching words with actions, Morocco and the European Union signed on this occasion 5 cooperation programs totaling 5.5 billion dirhams to support the Kingdom’s major reform projects, which include support for strengthening social protection, the green transition, public administration reform, migration management and strengthening financial inclusion.
The ongoing exchanges between the two partners were also crowned this year by the removal of Morocco from the EU grey list of countries under surveillance in terms of money laundering and terrorist financing. A decision that took into account information from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and which recognizes the efforts of Morocco, which has implemented the action plan agreed with the FATF.
Rabat and Brussels had also reached a new level in another area in which the Moroccan-European partnership has never wavered, namely the migration partnership. The European Commission and Morocco had thus launched a renewed partnership in the area of migration and the fight against people trafficking networks. A partnership that proved, once again, the reliable, committed and responsible partner that the Kingdom has always been.
The various programmes launched and the visits made on both sides are, in fact, part of the regular contacts maintained by the two parties. Contacts illustrated by, in addition to Josep Borrell’s visit to Morocco in January 2023, the previous trips by six other members of the College of Commissioners in 2022 alone, including the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen.
2024-07-15 09:23:02