What Morocco expects from the future president elected in France
April 10 unveiled Act II of the French presidential election which will take place on April 24. It will be like in 2017 a duel between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen. What does Morocco expect from this second round, one might wonder.
The Moroccan follows this event with great attention, which cannot leave him indifferent for a number of cultural, historical, economic reasons (1,000 French companies employing 80,000 people), geopolitics, security… and therefore deep relations which bind the two States if only by the number of the expatriate population on both sides. So much for the popular side.
On the African continent, the Kingdom is the first host country for the French community. And if there are 53,800 to be registered on the consular registers, it is estimated that 80,000 (about 50% dual nationals) the number of French nationals established in Morocco and this figure is constantly increasing. The French community is mainly made up of employees, entrepreneurs, retirees… attracted by the economic dynamism of Morocco, its stability and which, moreover, is a Francophile country.
The latter lives mainly in large Moroccan cities such as Casablanca, Rabat, Marrakech, Agadir or even Fez… The Moroccan diaspora (18.1%) meanwhile, in France represents some 755,400 non-European people and comes just behind the Moroccan community. Algerian population (807,500) which represents 20% of the immigrant population (4.1 million). Moroccans have the largest number of students in France nearly 40,000 were enrolled in the 2017/18 financial year.
Also this second round promises to be exciting for the Moroccan because he expects a lot from the new French president. But the choice we suspect will be by default. Between, Emmanuel Macron, trained in the economic elite and the world of finance who during his five-year term knew how, little by little, to cut his teeth as a politician and Marine Le Pen who is known for her positions, in particular those of immigration and Islam, the choice, one imagines, is quickly made for any self-respecting Moroccan.
That said, Mustapha Tossa, a Franco-Moroccan journalist specializing in the Arab world and based in Paris, a political analyst, believes that there is no doubt that ” Moroccans will support Macron, given, despite what is said, that he has adopted many positions in favor of Morocco, the Maghreb as well as at the level of the Mediterranean “.
Although he is not the most beloved past French president by Moroccans, Macron remains esteemed in the Kingdom. But he is criticized for some great impulses and moods that we do not understand at their true value, for example that of the tightening of the granting of visas, or other decisions taken under his mandate, such as in particular that of the registration fees imposed to students and others. Nostalgic Morocco regrets the often firm and sincere commitments in favor of Morocco made by past presidencies from General De Gaule to the present day and particularly those of the French right.
Now, what the Kingdom of France, second trading partner behind Spain, is waiting for is to open a new page and erase a few erasures here and there in the roadmap and above all, to have another vision of the politically correct future. literally.
We will in no way hide from France the aid provided by the French Development Agency (AFD), but it is an open secret, the political coldness between Morocco and France is manifest, there is no cloud the issue. Paris no longer has to hide from certain realities such as Moroccan sovereignty of the Sahara, which it puts in the chapter of profits and losses and which Spain and Germany have, however, done well to step over.
The Kingdom calls for it regardless of the elected president, so as not to trigger a balance of power if Marine is elected. Immigration issue to put pressure on the countries of the southern shore of the Mediterranean so that they take back their nationals in an irregular situation, the blackmail of visas was perceived on this side of the shore as one of the main causes of the cold politics in the relations of the two states.
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