Moroccan society looks forward to the next High Level Meeting
The announcement of the upcoming Spanish-Moroccan summit on 1 February, the RAN (High Level Meeting), has aroused great expectations in Morocco. Never before has Moroccan society, the working classes and the sectors most affected by bilateral agreements, placed such high hopes that intergovernmental meetings would bring concrete solutions to the problems facing society. In general, agreements between reciprocal executive, legislative or judicial powers do not initially affect social issues. This time, however, they will, because setting up joint committees, state administrations and teams from both countries to address bilateral problems as dense as the Spanish-Moroccan one will have immediate effects.
Moroccan society hopes that a new chapter will be opened between Morocco and Spain to address issues such as the passage of people and goods between Ceuta and Melilla and northern Morocco; the delimitation of territorial waters that will allow reciprocal fishing activities and prospecting for marine resources; increasing and ratifying agreements for enrolment in Spanish universities for undergraduate and postgraduate students; facilities for the joint work of small and medium-sized enterprises; the relocation of companies and temporary work for Moroccans in Spain; as well as strengthening the holiday prospects of hundreds of thousands of Moroccans in Spain, precisely when relations with France have cooled and the French neighbour has inexplicably tightened up the issuing of visas to citizens from the south. In this perspective, the so-called Operation Crossing the Strait this year, 2023, looks promising, and hundreds of thousands of Moroccan vehicles and families working in Europe are eagerly awaiting it.
The main news dailies, in both Arabic and French, have echoed the RAN's announcement. Symbolic is the headline of the daily Aujourd'hui le Maroc, known for its intransigent positions towards Spain, particularly during the government of José María Aznar, which announced on the front page, 'A new page opens between Spain and Morocco'. All the newspapers have highlighted King Felipe VI's words that "relations with Morocco are moving forward on stronger and more solid foundations". Coming from the head of the Spanish state and the Royal Court, this message is comforting for the Alawite monarchy and the political class of the neighbouring country. All hope is pinned on the imminent RAN.
For their part, the print weeklies, more devoted to analysis and assessment, have devoted extensive articles and reports to the bilateral issues to be discussed at the planned High-Level Meeting.
Of these, the leading French-language weekly Maroc Hebdo emphasises the increase in the flow of natural gas to Morocco from Spain using the TransMed pipeline, which, according to the weekly, has more than tripled in volume. Weeks earlier, the same weekly devoted an extensive analysis to the reactivation of the Strait Tunnel project, which will link the two countries, the two continents, and is seen as a mega-project of historical, economic, social and geopolitical significance.
For its part, the Arabic-language weekly Al Watan Alan (The Homeland Now) has devoted its 669th issue, which appeared on newsstands throughout Morocco, entirely to the bilateral meeting. The newspaper, edited by veteran journalist and renowned economist Abderrahim Ariri, reviews point by point all the issues, 14 according to official sources, that will be part of the summit: security, immigration, jihadism, borders, Mediterranean and Atlantic territorial waters; major projects; the establishment of Spanish companies throughout Morocco, including the Sahara, under its administration; major structural works such as the Strait Tunnel; renewable energies; new submarine cables for electricity and mega-data transmission; extension and reaffirmation of the Euro-African axis through Spain and the Moroccan Atlantic coast, etc...
Morocco expects a great deal from the RAN, as does Spain. We must not disappoint them.