The French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau announced Monday, April 15 in Rabat the creation of a Franco-Morocano working group responsible for helping to identify the nationality of migrants in an irregular situation in France, in order to facilitate their readmission in their country of origin.
Bruno Retailleau’s visit is part of a context of Franco-Morocano approach after the recognition of Paris, in the summer of 2024, of Moroccan sovereignty in the territory played by the Western Sahara.
On the contrary, the recognition that has caused tensions with Algeria, with whom relationships constantly deteriorate.
“Total commitment” of Morocco
Bruno Retailleau said he was “prohibiting any reaction” in the crisis with Algeria while in Morocco. A few hours before his meeting with his Moroccan counterpart Abdelooufi Laftit, Algiers asked 12 French officials to leave their territory, according to French diplomacy.
In Rabat, Bruno Retailleau reported an agreement to “improve cooperation for re -entering”, particularly through the next establishment of a “mixed group” in charge “to instruct Moroccan nationality or not” a certain number of migrants in an irregular situation.
“I think having mixed French and Moroccan teams to carry out this identification work will change things a lot,” he added.
The Moroccan Interior Ministry has reaffirmed, in a press release, “the total commitment of the Moroccan part to work for the development of a common reference point,” added that a bilateral cooperation roadmap had been adopted to bring the “common ambitions” of the two countries.
Franco-Morocanas relations
The recognition of France from Moroccan sovereignty in the west of Sahara has ended several years of tensions, especially linked to the immigration issue.
France had divided by two the number of visas granted to Moroccans in 2021-2022 to boost the kingdom to assume more of their nationals expelled by the French authorities, resulting in strong diplomatic tensions.
Bruno Retailleau’s trip follows the meeting between the two ministers during Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Morocco last October, during which the French president had announced a “strengthened association” between France and Morocco to combat illegal immigration and several traffic.
In the heart of the October discussions were the re -entry of Moroccan citizens in an irregular situation, which France wishes to expel, but whose dismissal is often blocked due to the absence of a consular pass delivered by Rabat.
The west of the Sahara, an ex-Spanish colony considered a non-autonomous territory by the United Nations, has opposed Morocco for half a century to Sahrawi’s independence from the Polisario front, supported by Algeria.
Source: BFM TV
