Long Before Sebta, European Elected Officials Were Already Calling for Funding to Morocco to Be Cut
The migration crisis in Sebta has abruptly brought Morocco’s cooperation with Europe back to the center of the debate. But several weeks before the events at the beginning of August, European elected officials were already calling for funding granted to Rabat to be used as leverage over expulsions.
The first signal came from the European Parliament. On 2 July, Dutch MEP Marieke Ehlers, a member of the PVV and the Patriots for Europe group, addressed the European Commission with a priority question bearing the unambiguous title: “EIB financing of infrastructure in Morocco and lack of cooperation on returns.”
On Bladi.net : After Ceuta, Brussels puts Moroccan visas on the line
The question directly drew a parallel between European investments in Morocco and the difficulties encountered by certain states in returning Moroccan nationals subject to an expulsion measure.
A few days later, the pressure became much more explicit in Belgium.
Freeze the Money Intended for Morocco
On 15 July, before the Foreign Relations Committee of the Belgian Chamber, MP Britt Huybrechts asked the government whether it was prepared to support freezing, or at the very least conditioning, funding from the European Investment Bank, the European Union and development cooperation intended for Morocco.
In the official report of the Belgian Chamber, she specifically asked whether Belgium was prepared to condition this funding on “demonstrable results” regarding readmission, security cooperation and judicial cooperation.
The MP notably based her argument on European investments in Moroccan transport. She cited the Rabat-Salé tramway, whose total cost is estimated at approximately 346 million euros. The European Investment Bank had also granted a 40-million-euro loan in 2018 for the extension of line 2.
She also recalled that Morocco was due to receive approximately 30 million euros in Belgian development aid during the legislative term. She asked the government whether this allocation could be eliminated as long as Rabat, in her view, failed to sufficiently fulfill its readmission obligations.
However, the Belgian government did not follow this line. Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Prévot reminded the same committee that Morocco was an “important partner” in the European Union’s southern neighborhood.
While acknowledging the importance of effective cooperation with Rabat on migration, return, readmission, security and justice, he stressed that relations between Morocco and the European countries extended far beyond these issues.
The minister also warned that an interruption of development cooperation would first affect the beneficiaries of the programs concerned and would not necessarily lead to better Moroccan cooperation on readmissions.
On Bladi.net : After Ceuta, Europe Wants to Pay Morocco More to Tighten Border Controls
These exchanges take on another dimension after the events in Sebta. Even before the new migration crisis, the idea of making part of the European money intended for Morocco dependent on its cooperation on expulsions was therefore already being openly defended by certain elected officials in Europe.