French FM Stéphane Séjourné in Morocco, a visit opening a new chapter in relationship
Paris and Rabat are expected to take a further step towards warming up their diplomatic relations with the visit this Monday of French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné to Morocco, where he held talks with his Moroccan peer Nasser Bourita.
The two officials were expected to discuss Euro-Moroccan partnership, Sahel issues, and a potential visit by President Emmanuel Macron, according to French media reports.
The visit is viewed as a new step in the rapprochement between France and Morocco, and an effort to warm up ties between the two countries after a series of diplomatic crises that marked bilateral relations during the past two years.
Few days before his visit, Stéphane Séjourné told the media he will invest in improving ties with Morocco and reaffirmed Paris support for the Sahara autonomy plan.
“The Republic’s President has personally asked me to invest in French-Moroccan relations to open a new chapter in our ties. I will be committed to that,” Sejourne told Ouest-France daily paper.
Ties between Morocco and France worsened in the two past years against the backdrop of a series of events, notably Paris falling short of following the USA’s full recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara, manoeuvres by French MPs against Moroccan interests at the European parliament, and Macron’s Algiers tropism.
There have been many contacts with Moroccan diplomacy, said Séjourné.
“Now, it is time to move forward. I will do everything in the upcoming weeks and months so that France and Morocco get closer,” he said, adding that his priority will be “rebuilding trust.”
Regarding the Sahara issue, he said France has a position that is “clear and steady in support for the autonomy plan since 2007.”
Earlier this month French Ambassador to Morocco Christophe Lecourtier said mending ties with Morocco requires Paris making its position clear on the Sahara.
French officials repeatedly voiced support for the autonomy plan but they fell short of an outright recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the territory following the US suit, despite mounting calls on Macron to do so.
The French ambassador also said in a lecture on Morocco-France relations in Casablanca that relations between France and Morocco “should be renewed,” and that relying on close common history and traditional positive ties alone would be arrogant, as crises will not resolve by themselves.
the French ambassador said that the Kingdom has “changed for the better” in the last two decades, but this has not been accompanied by a change of perception on the French side.
“We French have lost a little bit more knowledge and intimacy with Morocco than Morocco has with France,” he said.
As a signal of the thawing of Moroccan-French ties, France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron, welcomed last Monday the three sisters of King Mohammed VI of Morocco at the Élysée Palace.
