Josep Borrell: “Marruecos es nuestro socio más dinámico y más cercano”
A new year is beginning, and the two-day official visit by the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, to the Kingdom of Morocco - where he met with the President of the Moroccan government, Aziz Akhannouch, and the head of the foreign ministry, Nasser Bourita - seems to reflect Brussels' attempts to inaugurate a climate of renewed trust between the two partners.
"We consider Morocco to be our most dynamic and closest partner," said the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, but the partnership must continue to work to "move from words to deeds", he added at a joint press conference with Bourita, referring to climate issues and those related to the energy crisis. "We must deliver on commitments" and work with a "more ambitious" vision to ensure that "the letters written on paper become something that citizens can see in their daily lives".
In this regard, a document published by the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs has set out the main areas of cooperation between Brussels and Rabat that were discussed at the meeting, and which, it is hoped, will bear fruit in the coming months. The signing of the Green Partnership (the first of its kind between the two partners), the implementation of the Economic and Investment Plan included in the New Agenda for the Mediterranean with projects on resilient economies, digital transformation, energy transition and security and agriculture and sustainable development), and the partnership for mobility and migration control, were just some of the issues on which the European and Moroccan officials worked.
The visit comes in the framework of the 2019 Joint Political Declaration that established a strategic 'Euro-Moroccan Partnership for Shared Prosperity' - in politics and security, economics, values and knowledge - and institutionalised regular contacts between the Kingdom and the EU-27. The relations are "solid and strategic", Borrell noted, and are based on "concrete actions" that are particularly relevant in light of "the difficult times Europe is currently facing".
Furthermore, the meeting between the head of European diplomacy and the Moroccan authorities has symbolised the thawing of relations between the two parties after Josep Borrell stated in an interview for RTVE last summer that he was in favour of holding a "consultation" with the Sahrawi people on their situation. Rabat described this as "inappropriate statements", which led to the meeting scheduled for August being postponed.
Now, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs seems to have moved closer to the Moroccan motion for a resolution. "We have taken note, and we appreciate the serious and credible efforts made by Morocco", Borrell said, underlining Europe's support for the initiatives of the United Nations, and in particular, of the special envoy to the territory, Staffan de Mistura, to find "a just, realistic, pragmatic, sustainable and mutually acceptable solution".
The issue of Western Sahara is of vital importance to Rabat, which in recent years has been making great diplomatic efforts to consolidate its plan for Sahrawi autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty. A plan that has already received significant international support, including from the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Spain, the territory's colonial metropolis. Meanwhile, countries such as Algeria - Rabat's political and regional rival - support the Polisario Front's position, advocating a referendum on independence.