Metz Mayor François Grosdidier: A Key Ally for Morocco on Sahara Issue

François Grosdidier is a strong defender of Morocco’s interests, particularly on the Sahara issue. In 2010, he addressed two questions to Michèle Alliot-Marie, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, on this subject. Vice-president of the France-Morocco friendship group in the National Assembly and then in the Senate, he had his say in the diplomatic relations between the two countries and made regular trips to the kingdom. "Morocco is a country that I have always liked, since as a child I visited the castle of Marshal Lyautey in our region, even more so when I later had Franco-Moroccan friends who introduced me to this beautiful country," he explains to Street Press.

The mayor of Metz assumes his pro-Moroccan position on the Sahara issue. "Yes, I have also always been interested in geopolitical issues and, having studied the long history of this country and having visited it, I have recognized the legitimacy of its claims of national unity based on its history, its geography, the popular sentiment and the current geopolitical stakes," details François Grosdidier, who also has economic interests in the kingdom where he owned a 69,000 euro apartment and shares in a company called Maroc Voiles, based in Dakhla, created with his friend and sports advisor to the town hall, Adil Belgaïd, the former Moroccan judoka, seven-time African champion.

Since his election as mayor of Metz on July 3, 2020, François Grosdidier has established strong cooperation with Morocco. In October 2021, he led an "economic mission" to Dakhla "with the aim of developing and supporting economic and commercial relations between the Kingdom and France". In July 2022, he signed a "cooperation agreement" with Laâyoune, the capital of the Moroccan Sahara. "We chose Laâyoune on the advice of the Consul General of Morocco, just as we chose to twin with Trento on the advice of the Italian Consul General," he points out.

Today, the mayor of Metz claims to no longer have any interest in Morocco. "I am no longer a shareholder of Maroc Voiles and it has been inactive for at least 12 years. I don’t know if it hasn’t been dissolved either. [...] To be clear, I have no personal and even less economic interest in Morocco. My public commitments are in no way linked to this type of consideration. Writing the contrary would be defamation," he says.