The opposition formations in the House of Representatives, ask, in a press release published Friday, “the formation of a commission of inquiry in the House of Representatives on the importation of Russian diesel and the suspicions on the transparency, the integrity and legitimacy surrounding the process”. From this call, the notable absence of the USFP is particularly striking as in parliament, one of its elected officials had demanded clarifications on this same file.
The presidents of the Popular Movement, PPS and PJD groups affirm that their request is “perfectly in accordance with the constitution and the organic law relating to the functioning of parliamentary commissions of inquiry, as well as the internal regulations of the House of Representatives”. And to recall that under article 67 of the Constitution of July 1, 2011, commissions of inquiry “may be created on the initiative of the King or at the request of one third of the members of the House of Representatives, or one-third of the members of the House of Councilors”.
After this official announcement, MP, PPS and PJD must convince 131 deputies to endorse their request for the case to be pinned down. But it must be said that the approach seems difficult for a coalition which does not have more than 65 deputies, a threshold well below what article 67 of the fundamental law stipulates. The USFP, which has 34 deputies, could join the race. The four opposition parties had announced, in May 2022, the establishment of a “coordination” mechanism. It remains to be seen whether such a structure will be operationalized.
In the meantime, he should be remembered that he was Abdelkader Taher, deputy of the USFP, who had dared to throw the pavement into the pond by asking, at the end of February, via a written question addressed to Nadia Fettah Alaoui, Minister of Economy and Finance, to shed light on the allegations of “falsification of proof of the origin of imports of petroleum products from Russia”.
Since the sanctions imposed on February 5 by the European Union on Russian refined oil exports, Morocco has become an alternative market for these products, according to the Bloomberg agency. The Wall Street Journal has already taken an interest in the case of Morocco, among other alternative markets for Russian diesel.
The government wanted to qualify this information relayed by the international press, admitting only a slight increase in Russian diesel. “The share of Russian diesel recorded an increase in January and February 2023, to stand at 13%,” said NF Alaoui in an answer to the written question of the USFP deputy. “In 2020, the import share of Russian diesel was 9%. It fell to 5% in 2021 before increasing again to reach 9% in 2022,” said Mustapha Baïtas, spokesperson for the executive, during a press briefing held on March 2.
