Morocco’s employers’ federation put off visit by French counterpart as crisis worsens

Morocco’s federation of Moroccan employers (CGEM) asked its French counterpart Medef to put off a visit by its president to Morocco due to the unpropitious context marked by a widening crisis between Rabat and Paris.

The news was relayed by Moroccan outlets including le360 which said that CGEM chief Chakib Alj asked his French counterpart Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux to delay his visit sine die.

“This delay is due to the current unproductive context of Moroccan-French relations,” Alj told Le360, while highlighting “the quality of relations between CGEM and Medef which will re-schedule this visit as soon as the context becomes conducive.”

In April, few weeks after President Macron tried to downplay a silently brewing crisis with Morocco, spokesman for French foreign ministry François Delmas said relations with Morocco were excellent.

Soon after, a senior source told Jeune Afrique relations with France were not as warm as Macron thinks.

Crisis

Signs of the crisis, which France tries to conceal, abound, starting with the announced visit by Macron to Morocco early this year which has yet to take place.

Moroccan politicians and parliamentarians did not mince their words by blaming France directly for undermining Morocco’s interests in the EU.

The Moroccan parliament referred to its disappointment at the instigation of members of European parliament by Stéphane Séjourné, who leads Macron’s MEPs at the European Parliament. Most French members voted for an anti-Moroccan resolution to save some right-wing politicians.

The context is not giving any credence to the statements of the French president as his country offers concessions to Algeria’s military regime going as far as promising to sell them arms, a fact that was acknowledged by Macron who bragged about prospects for “military cooperation” following the visit of Algeria’s genuine ruler chief of staff Chengriha.

As France empowers the military regime in Algeria, it is distancing itself from its longtime friend and ally signaling a decline in France’s foreign policy in the region in favor of closer ties with an oil and gas-dependent country mired in repression and instability and on the verge of collapse.

Empowering Algerian military rulers is not Macron’s only fault. France under his leadership has steered away from mutual respect to adopt blackmail including through reducing visas offered to Moroccans in a measure that Morocco said was not reflective of the quality of consular cooperation.

French media have also indulged in Morocco bashing by parroting uncorroborated accusations in what has come to be called “junk science” concerning Amnesty’s and forbidden stories’ allegation on Rabat’s use of Pegasus malware to spy on French politicians.

Morocco has sued the media in question and no evidence has been offered months into the allegations.

Is France annoyed by Morocco’s increasing influence in the Sahel where the former colonial master is receiving a series of blows?

Paris’ foothold is also shrinking in West Africa on the back of growing anti-French sentiment and increasing Russian incursions.

After their retreat from Mali following a ten-year failure to eradicate Jihadist groups, Burkina Faso asked France to withdraw its troops from the country.

Macron’s African policy reflects the diminishing weight of France and so does the inconsistencies of its self-destructive foreign policy that has destroyed bridges with African peoples and governments.