France Must Mend Ties with Morocco, Says Xavier Bertrand

A new call to Emmanuel Macron about the deterioration of relations between France and Morocco. "We have to get out of this diplomatic freezing with Morocco. Morocco is, historically, a friendly country. We have to restore normal relations," said Xavier Bertrand, a guest on the "Political Questions" program on France Inter, France Télévisions and Le Monde. According to him, it is up to France to "make the necessary efforts and be clear on the Sahara issue," one of the reasons for the deterioration of relations between Rabat and Paris. France is still not ready to recognize the Moroccanness of the Sahara, even though Morocco has constantly put pressure on it to go in this direction, as Germany, Israel, the United States and Spain have already done.

France’s reluctance is explained by its Algerian tropism. French President Emmanuel hesitates to take the step in order not to irritate Algeria, the protector of the Polisario, the independence movement. "If there is a choice to be made today between Algeria and Morocco, I choose Morocco," affirmed the president of the Hauts-de-France region. "When we see the attitude of the Algerians and the Algerian president who did not hesitate to have an anti-French verse put back into the national anthem. Once again, we have to put a stop to this drift."

Before Xavier Bertrand, former French President (2007-2012) Nicolas Sarkozy adopted the same stance. "This French Algerian tropism is distancing us from Morocco. We risk losing everything. We will not gain the trust of Algeria, and we will lose that of Morocco," he said in an interview with Le Figaro last August.