Morocco’s King Slams European Interference in Maghreb Affairs

"Morocco, like some countries in the Arab Maghreb, is facing a deliberate and premeditated aggression. Clinging to pre-established positions and obsolete considerations, the enemies of the territorial integrity of the kingdom do not wish Morocco to remain the free, strong and influential nation that it has always been. Moreover, some countries, including European countries paradoxically among Morocco’s traditional partners, fear for their economic interests, their markets and their spheres of influence in the Maghreb region," declared the sovereign in reaction to the call from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

In a note entitled "Maghreb rivalries over sub-Saharan Africa: Algeria and Tunisia seek to follow in Morocco’s footsteps", the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik had called on the European Union to reduce Morocco’s hegemony over Algeria and Tunisia. Some European leaders "do not yet understand that the problem does not lie in the regimes of the countries of the Greater Maghreb, but in theirs, still tinged with a hopelessly outdated passivism to the evolutions of the time," commented King Mohammed VI, noting that the last few months have revealed that these countries are experiencing a weakening of respect for the institutions of the State and its main traditional missions.

"Thus, they would like us to be shaped in their image and, to undermine the respectability of our national institutions, to undermine their authority, they accuse them of violating rights and freedoms and deploy, for this purpose, fallacious arguments against them," notes the sovereign, adding that these leaders are not about "to admit that the rules of the game have changed, and that henceforth our countries are fully capable of managing their affairs, of developing their resources and their potentials, in the well-understood interest of our peoples".

"Moreover, rather than supporting Morocco’s efforts within the framework of a desired balance between the countries of the region, reports have, he deplores, crossed all the limits of acceptability, going so far as to recommend that the development dynamic of our country be slowed down, on the specious pretext that it creates an asymmetry between the Maghreb states."