Morocco
France and Morocco formalized their reconciliation on the backdrop of a meeting in Rabat between king Mohamed VI and president Macron. On the sidelines the two leaders presided the signing of several agreements with a cumulative worth of over 10 billion dollars: the deals (the full details of which have not yet been disclosed) feature the sale of 12 high-speed carriages to Morocco by French group Alstom, while energy champions Engie, EDF and TotalEnergies expanded their presence in the Moroccan renewables and hydrogen markets.
Macron also reiterated his intention to increase French investments in the Western Sahara. Key to the expansion of Moroccan influence between Europe, western Africa and the Sahel, control over the region is disputed between Morocco and Algeria, who provides financial and logistical backing to the Sahrawi militias of the Polisario Front. Last July, Macron abandoned a multi-decadal tradition of French neutrality on the issue to announce his support for Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. While aimed at re-establishing Franco-Moroccan cooperation, Macron’s choice also reflects the failure of his attempted rapprochement with Algeria, underscored by Algerian president Tebboune’s noted reluctance to answer invitations to Paris. Tebboune’s visit, which should have reciprocated Macron’s 2022 trip to Algiers, was finally annulled following Macron’s July announcement.
Besides, taking Morocco’s side has already offered some reward. A few days after Macron broke French equidistance, Morocco awarded French companies Egis and Sistra the management of the Kenitra-Marrakech railway project, itself part of a wider plan to connect the port of Casablanca to the southern capital of Agadir. The rapprochement will also likely relaunch French commitment to build a high-power line between Casablanca and Dakhla, the regional capital of Western Sahara and a key development hub in king Mohamed’s plans. Shortly before the energy deals were inked with Engie and Total, the king has also announced that Western Sahara’s renewable energy capacity is set to double by 2030.
Under this backdrop, French investment in Western Sahara may allow Paris to bolster its residual influence between North Africa and its erstwhile partners in the Sahel. Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso all broke long-standing ties to France in the last two years but see Western Sahara as a potential pathway towards regional markets. All three countries, alongside Chad, joined the Atlantic Initiative launched last December by king Mohamed, which aims to link the land-locked Sahel states to West African markets through a West Saharan trade corridor.
As Paris and Rabat patch up their differences, relations between Morocco and the EU face renewed strain. In early October, the European Court of Justice struck down an appeal by the European Commission and declared that the Morocco-EU fishery and agriculture agreements must not include Western Sahara. The pronouncement seals a long-standing dispute on the validity of accords first inked in 1998 between the kingdom and the Union, which the Court had deemed invalid in 2016 and again in 2018. In 2019 the Commission had then negotiated a new agreement with Morocco, which included stakeholders from Western Sahara to justify extending the provisions to the contested territory. The October appeal confirms the invalidity of this later deal, which the Court had first declared in 2021 on the basis that it did not ensure consent by the native Sahrawis of Western Sahara. Further agreements must cease within a year. The 2019 accords, whose renewal had been frozen pending the Court’s decision, had expired in July 2023.
Morocco and the EU had already clashed more than once in the last two years, as Morocco had been involved in an inquest on corruption within the European Parliament and shortly thereafter criticized by Strasbourg for not ensuring sufficient freedom of press. Relations had then improved after EU Commissioner Oliver Varhely announced the unlocking of 2,1 billion euros in investments in the kingdom. In that occasion, Morocco and the EU had also inked a 500-million-euro set of agreements on immigration, agriculture, finance, justice, and welfare. As relations tense once again, both the EU Commission and Spain – who is the first beneficiary of the 2019 agreements – have showed caution, remarking their “firm intention” to keep cultivating strategic ties with Morocco.
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The initiative was promoted by the Italian Ministry of Universities and Research (MUR), the Med-Or Foundation, the Moroccan Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation, the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, and the Italian Embassy in Rabat.
Present at the event were the Italian Minister of Universities and Research, Anna Maria Bernini, the Moroccan Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation, Abdellatif Miraoui, and the Italian Ambassador to Rabat, Armando Barucco.
Med-Or Foundation attended the 12th edition of the international conference “The Atlantic Dialogues” organized by the think tank The Policy Center for the New South in Marrakech, Morocco.
Med-Or Chairman Marco Minniti visited the Kingdom of Morocco and signed two partnership agreements with the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation and the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication
| Head of state | King Mohammed VI |
| Head of Government | Aziz Akhannouch |
| Institutional Form | Unitary parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchy |
| Capital | Rabat |
| Legislative Power | Bicameral Parliament composed of a House of Councillors (10 Members) and a House of Representatives (395 Members) |
| Judicial Power | Supreme Court or Court of Cassation (composed of 5 judicial panels organised into civil, family, commercial, administrative, social, and criminal sections) |
| Ambassador to Italy | Youssef Balla |
| Total Area kmq | 716.550 km2 |
| Land | 716.300 km2 |
| Weather | Mediterranean in the north, hot and dry desert in the south |
| Natural resources | Phosphates, iron ore, manganese, lead, zinc, fish, salt |
| Economic summary | Kingdom of Morocco recently strengthened economic relations with Europe because of a developed, diversified and open market, foreign investments and low labour costs. Morocco has increased the investments in seaport, transport and industrial infrastructure | |
| GDP | € 130.3 billion (2023) | |
| Exports | € 38.5 billion (2023) |
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| Export partner | Spain 21.7%, France 19%, Italy 4.96%, India 4.32%, Brazil 3.61%, United States 3.5% (2020) | |
| Imports | € 64.2 billion (2023) |
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| Import partner | Spain 19.5%, China 11.2%, Germany 5.26%, United States 5.2%, Türkiye 5.09%, Italy 4.73% (2020) | |
| Trade With Italy | € 4,760 billion (2023) |
| Population | 36.738.229 (2022) |
| Population Growth | 0,91% (2022 est.) |
| Ethnicities | Arab-Berber 99%, others 1% |
| Languages | Arabic (official), Berber (Tamazight (official), Tachelhit, Tarifit), French (the language of business, government, and diplomacy) |
| Religions | Muslims 99% (official; practically all Sunnis, <0.1% Shia), others 1% (includes Christians, Jews, and Baha'i); note - Jews about 6,000 |
| Urbanization | 64,6% (2022 est.) |
| Literacy | 73.8% |
Independent since 1952, after the end of the French and Spanish protectorates and the International Zone of Tangiers, the Kingdom of Morocco is located at the far northwestern end of the Maghreb region in North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to the east and Mauritania to the south. Its population is estimated to be 36.7 million people and is mainly composed of two ethno-linguistic groups, Imaziɣen and Arabs. Morocco is also home to the largest Jewish community in the Arab world. The country’s official languages are Arabic and Tamaziɣt.
Morocco’s political stability and its economic growth forecast make it stand out in the Maghreb region. For Italy, it is a strategic country and the intensification of relations between Rome and Rabat represents an opportunity for the entire Mediterranean area.
Italy is the third destination in Europe for Moroccan migrants, with the Moroccan community in Italy estimated at 450,000 people and growing. According to the World Bank, remittances from Moroccans living abroad reached 6.57 percent of the country’s GDP - its largest source of revenues after tourism.
Italy is Morocco’s sixth trade partner for both imports and exports, and it enjoys a positive trade balance. Over 252 Italian companies are currently present in the country. In 2019, Italy and Morocco signed a multidimensional strategic partnership. Some of the commitments taken include: political, diplomatic and intelligence cooperation; the management of regional and international challenges; the fight against international terrorism and crime; the consolidation of economic, trade and financial relations; the fight against irregular migration flows and human trafficking; and the strengthening of cultural and scientific cooperation.
Since 2008, the European Union has granted Morocco “advanced status", facilitating collaboration with European countries.
