France Slashes Visas for Moroccans, Straining Diplomatic Ties

It all started in September 2021 with the French government’s decision to reduce by 50% the number of visas issued to Moroccans and Algerians, and by 30% for Tunisians. A measure taken by Emmanuel Macron to get these countries to cooperate for the return of their nationals whose expulsion is established. But these countries refuse to issue the consular laissez-passer to the latter, thus slowing down the French president’s migration policy, analyzes Jeune Afrique.

Since the entry into force in November 2021 of this "unjustified" measure, according to Nasser Bourita, Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, politicians and Moroccan citizens have not stopped denouncing what they consider an attack on their "integrity" or "an insult to Moroccan dignity", in the words of the head of the Moroccan government, Aziz Akhannouch.

On social networks, anti-France hashtags and reactions are multiplying. Rather than "prostrating to get a visa", academic Mokhtar Chaoui urges Moroccans to "zap" a country "that snubs you, whether it’s France or another". Moroccan writer Abdelmajid Benjelloun, for his part, denounces this French position "hostile and unfriendly" towards Morocco.

In his speech on August 20 on the occasion of the Feast of the Revolution of the King and the People, Mohammed VI recalled that the Sahara is "the yardstick that measures the sincerity of friendships and the effectiveness of the partnerships it establishes", calling on the French authorities to clarify their position on this crucial issue, as Germany and Spain have already done.