Former French Minister Criticizes Morocco’s Rejection of Earthquake Aid

Paris is angry with Rabat for not yet accepting the proposal it made to help the victims of the devastating earthquake that shook Morocco and killed nearly 3,000 people. "The Moroccan logomachy seems rather strange to me," said Roseline Bachelot, former Minister of Solidarity and Social Cohesion under former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on the set of the "Et maintenant!" program on the Public Sénat channel. She is annoyed by Morocco’s attitude, which has so far only accepted aid from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Spain and the United Kingdom, and points out that the British have made the same offer of aid as France.

"After saying it was a matter of competence, I think the competence of the French rescue teams is recognized; to have argued about proximity, Qatar or the United Arab Emirates are not really closer to France. After having said that everything had to be judged through the prism of the former Spanish Sahara, the Western Sahara issue, we see that the British who were chosen have the same position as France..." develops the former Minister of Ecology and Sustainable Development under Jacques Chirac, before attacking Morocco.

"I think there is a much more global geostrategic problem with Morocco, and that once again in a weakened monarchy that does not respond to the democratic aspirations of its youth, a youth that suffers from economic imperfections, it is necessary to replace this in the African geostrategy," concludes the former European deputy.