Mohamed VI responde a las críticas con la confirmación de Nasser Bourita

Just a month after the Moroccan elections, King Mohammed VI announced the new government that will tackle all the fronts left open by Saadeddine Othmani's government over the next five years. However, the structure of the new government team has not undergone too many changes with respect to the previous one, maintaining the main portfolios under the same leadership. One of Mohammed VI's strongmen, Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, had been criticised for his handling of diplomacy, but the monarch maintains his confidence in him and his work at the head of the ministry.

Morocco faces a complicated external situation. The migratory crisis with Spain, the Ghali affair - which is still giving rise to much talk in the seventh examining court in Zaragoza - and the breakdown of diplomatic relations with Algeria are some of the most complicated issues facing the Alawi kingdom. Nasser Bourita has been the key man in managing some of these issues and, after Mohammed VI's confirmation, will continue to be so. This gesture demonstrates Bourita's importance in a new government full of technocrats led by Aziz Akhannouch.

The aim of maintaining Morocco's Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates is to ensure good relations with Spain, Israel and the United States, among others. Despite the current state of relations between the peninsula and Rabat, relations between the two countries have historically been very good, and the Moroccan government hopes that this will continue to be the case. However, Spain is apprehensive about the rupture with Algeria with a view to the arrival of gas through Mohammed VI's country.

Bourita's confirmation is not only a message to critics within the country, but also a clear commitment to the future of the Kingdom's foreign relations. Some sectors expected a change in the foreign affairs portfolio, but the decision to maintain the bulk of the previous executive is a declaration of intent on the part of the monarchy, which wants to carry out a gradual transition without breaking everything that the Justice and Development Party has built up over the last ten years.

However, it should not be forgotten that the work of the party that has been in power for the last decade has led it to political irrelevance. The defeat has been so profound that Akhannouch's predecessor, Saadeddine Othmani, has failed to win his seat, making him ineligible for re-election under the Moroccan constitution. The resounding defeat of his party left the option of a profound restructuring of the government, which in the end has not been carried out, opting for a continuist line, albeit without any Islamist in the new Executive.