Morocco a Model for French Islam? Darmanin Praises Cooperation • Warta Indonesia En. Ver

Rabat – After an unprecedented crisis, the relationship between Paris and Rabat seems to be thawing day by day, ending the long winter and bringing warmth back to French-Moroccan relations. This culminated over the weekend with the visit of the third French minister to the Kingdom of Morocco in three months.

French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin wrapped up a two-day visit to Rabat on Monday, following a visit by Minister of Foreign Trade Franck Riester in early April and Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian in late February.

French Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau is currently visiting Morocco until April 23, and his colleague in the economy, Bruno Le Maire, and French Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot are also expected to visit the kingdom in the coming days.

Hand in hand to fight terrorist threats

Emmanuel Dupuy, president of the Institute of Orientalism and Security in Europe, told Sky News Arabia that “it is natural, less than 100 days before the Paris Olympics, which will bring together hundreds of thousands of people, for France to seek Morocco’s support and join forces with it to combat terrorist threats.

France also needs to strengthen its security cooperation with the presence of Moroccan security forces alongside European forces to protect this global event.”

In this context, and according to the Moroccan Arab News Agency, Darmanin, during a press conference following his talks with Moroccan Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit, expressed his “gratitude to Morocco for its continuous great assistance to France in organizing major sporting events, particularly the Olympic Games, recalling that the two countries have already demonstrated their expertise during other sporting events.”

He said: “We can rely on each other to exchange information during major sporting events to come, referring in this context to the African Cup of Nations football which Morocco will host in 2025.”

Darmanin described the cooperation between the French Republic and the Kingdom of Morocco in the security field as “excellent” in the face of shared challenges, such as the fight against drugs, terrorist networks and crime.

The French minister added: “If it were not for our Moroccan friends and the excellent work done by the Moroccan judicial police, France would be in even greater danger,” stressing that the arrests carried out by Morocco in response to requests from France reflect the great effectiveness of the Moroccan police. He emphasized that “if it were not for Moroccan intelligence services, France would be even more affected.”

Excellent religious cooperation

In addition to security, Darmanin, who met with Minister of Endowments and Islamic Affairs Ahmed Taoufiq, considered cooperation with the Moroccan authorities in the religious field to be “excellent.” He stressed that “Islam, according to the rites practiced in Morocco, remains a model thanks to King Mohammed VI.”

He concluded that France is very interested in the training of imams and in how Morocco can help it in this field.

According to Dupuy, “France knows that it must make concrete progress on the ‘French Islam’ file and Morocco and its way of managing religion is a model that attracts great interest, especially since Moroccan Islam has the characteristic of immunity against extremist ideas.”

When will the reconciliation take place?

Despite this bilateral rapprochement, “we cannot talk about reconciliation between Rabat and Paris, but only about reviving the relationship that both sides want to become normal,” the president of the Institute of Security and Orientalism affirms.

He adds: “We may talk about reconciliation when French President Emmanuel Macron makes his visit to Morocco, which was scheduled for May and then postponed until December. While uncertainty still hangs over this visit, it could be postponed until 2025.”

He believes that “for the time being, the priority has become to strengthen bilateral cooperation, pending a real outcome of the French position on the Sahara issue.”***