Morocco deplored the decision of France to tighten the conditions for obtaining visas to the nationals of the kingdom, calling it “unjustified”.
“We have taken note of this decision, we consider it unjustified”, declared the head of Moroccan diplomacy Nasser Bourita, during a press conference with his Mauritanian counterpart Ismaël Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
Paris announced the reduction in the number of visas granted to nationals of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia due to the “refusal” of these Maghreb countries to issue the consular passes necessary for the return of immigrants returned from France.
“Morocco has always managed the migration issue and the flow of people, with a logic of responsibility and balance between facilitating the movement of people (…) and the fight against illegal migration,” said Mr. Bourita.
“The decision (of France) is sovereign. Morocco will study it, but the reasons which justify it require precision, a dialogue, because they do not reflect reality,” added the minister.
This tightening of the granting of visas to Maghreb nationals comes less than seven months before the presidential election in France, in the midst of a debate on immigration.
“It is a drastic decision, it is an unprecedented decision, but it is a decision made necessary by the fact that these countries do not accept to take back nationals that we do not want and cannot keep in France”, justified the spokesperson of the French government Gabriel Attal, on the radio Europe 1.
“Franco-French problem”
The main bone of contention concerns consular passes (LPC) which are only issued in a trickle, according to Paris, slowing deportations to Morocco already made complicated by the health crisis and border closures.
Thus, according to the French Ministry of the Interior, Morocco issued 138 of these documents between January and July, with “a cooperation rate” of 25%.
“If memory serves, our consular channels have issued nearly 400 laissez-passer for people in an irregular situation during the past eight months,” said Mr. Bourita.
“Morocco has always reacted pragmatically and strictly with people who are in an irregular situation,” he said.
The minister also attributed to a “Franco-French problem” the difficulty of the repatriation of Moroccan nationals, regretting that France does not impose a PCR test on them before embarking for Morocco, while Rabat makes this test compulsory to enter on its territory, pandemic obliges.
“Disproportionate decision”
The French decision also made the Moroccan street react.
“It is a surprising decision and an instrument of pressure (…) It is problematic insofar as there are many Moroccan students and tourists who go to France every year”, castigates Mohamed, a student of 28 years old met in Rabat.
She has also been commented on by local media and social networks.
“France is finally using, and very clumsily, its + weapon + the visa”, estimates the Moroccan news site PanoraPost, which expects a “response” from Morocco which “will most certainly be political, diplomatic and obviously economic”.
“The elections are coming, in France it is starting to dredge the vote of the extreme right,” responded a user.
Others call for “seriously considering adopting English (instead of French) as a second language of instruction for the next 10 years”, a recurring theme on the networks.
France issued 18,579 visas in 2021 for 24,191 requested by Moroccans, a number which is also significantly down. By way of comparison, in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic, it issued 346,000 for 420,000 requests.
In Algiers, the French decision was deemed “disproportionate” and “unfortunate” by Amar Belani, a special envoy of the government responsible for the cause of Western Sahara and the Arab Maghreb countries.
“We take note of this disproportionate decision and we deplore it”, declared this senior official to the official agency APS.
Tunisia has not officially reacted.
