In the European Parliament, Thierry Mariani has his hobby horses. Morocco is one of them. On January 19, 2023, the National Rally MEP once again came to the aid of the Cherifian kingdom. The Strasbourg hemicycle has just voted on a resolution calling on the Moroccan authorities to “respect freedom of expression and freedom of the media” and to guarantee a “fair trial” to several imprisoned journalists, including Omar Radi – known for his critical positions towards the government and imprisoned since the summer of 2020 for “undermining the internal security of the State” and “rape”. Thierry Mariani takes the microphone, deplores that “the European left never condemns Algeria [NDLR : grand rival du Maroc] and that the European Union lets it do everything.” And he concludes his plea: “It is not up to the European Parliament to wipe its feet on Moroccan justice.”
The kingdom could not have dreamed of a better defender. The following month, it was the same again. This time, the assembly voted to counter attempts by foreign powers to interfere in European institutions, following “Marocgate” and “Qatargate”, a corruption scandal involving several MEPs in which Rabat was implicated. Morocco was mentioned twice in the resolution. “A needlessly vexatious measure”, Thierry Mariani fumed in an interview with the very loyalist Moroccan website Le 360. The elected official, known for his pro-Putin and pro-Bashar-el-Assad leanings, did not seem indifferent to King Mohammed VI either. And he was not the only one in his political family.
“The National Front – which became the National Rally – has always had affinities with certain Arab nationalist movements, such as the Baath in Syria and Iraq; Jean-Marie Le Pen was received by King Hassan II of Morocco in 1990. They had in common the promotion of a ‘nationalism at home'” explains historian Pierre Vermeren, author of Morocco in 100 questions. A kingdom of paradoxes (Tallandier, 2020).
In fact, the opinions of the sovereign Hassan II on Moroccans who had emigrated to France were not so far from those of the extreme right. “Send them back to me. It is up to us, their family of origin, to rack our brains to find them work” he declared, cigarette in mouth, on the show “Face à la presse” on TF1, in 1991. Two years earlier, as a guest on “L’heure de vérité”, the king advocated “controlled immigration”, said he was opposed to voting by foreigners residing in France as well as mixed marriages, and claimed to have intervened so that Moroccan teenagers from Creil (Oise) would give up wearing the veil.
The sulphurous allies of “M6”
Another time, another king… Mohammed VI (“M6”), heir to the late Hassan II, much less fond of cameras, and on bad terms with the French president for years – Emmanuel Macron is said to have still not digested seeing his personal phone targeted by the Pegasus spyware –, is winning the favor of the RN on another sacred cause: the “Moroccanness” of Western Sahara, this territory located in the south of Morocco, claimed both by Rabat and by the separatists of the Polisario Front (supported by Algeria).
“The Sahara issue is the prism through which Morocco views its international environment,” declared M6 on August 20, 2022. “It is also clearly and simply the yardstick that measures the sincerity of the friendships and the effectiveness of the partnerships it establishes.” On this sensitive subject, France has been displaying the same line for fifteen years, namely support for the autonomy plan proposed by Rabat in 2007, without clearly endorsing the belonging of this territory to Morocco.
At the RN, on the other hand, there is little room for doubt. “We must renew ties with Rabat, in particular by recognizing the Moroccanness of Western Sahara and ceasing our submission to Algiers,” tweeted Thierry Mariani on September 22, 2023. On this subject, Mohammed VI does not lack relays in far-right circles. One of his most fervent defenders is none other than Jean-Claude Martinez, an old crocodile of the National Front, of which he was vice-president from 1985 to 2008, alongside his friend Jean-Marie Le Pen. The 78-year-old man knows Morocco well, he was even inspector general of finances there… and tax advisor to Hassan II! A law teacher, Martinez never misses an opportunity to defend the holy cause of Western Sahara. For example, in this column for the far-right weekly Current valuesin February 2018. Presented as a simple “professor at the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas”, he expressed concern “about a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union that could recognize the existence of an independent state covering the Saharan lands of Morocco.” Three years earlier, he published an ode to the Moroccan monarchy: Mohammed VI, the stabilizing king.
Anti-Algerian sentiment
“The royalist current present within the RN has always campaigned for friendship with Morocco,” continues Pierre Vermeren. “And on the Rabat side, any royalist – whether in Spain, the United Kingdom or France – is a potential friend.” Among these convinced monarchists, let us cite Bernard Lugan, an Africanist historian whose theses are decried by most of his peers. Born in Meknes in Morocco, a sympathizer of the Action Française then a member of the FN in the 1980s, he espouses the theory of the “great replacement” and will also advise candidate Eric Zemmour during the 2022 presidential election.
With his old French look and bushy moustache, this royalist, who is very popular in military circles (he has long given courses at the IHEDN and the War College), is just as popular on Moroccan television sets. Last May, on the occasion of the release of his book, Western Sahara in 10 questions (Ellipses, 2024), he is the guest of the Medi1 channel. The presenter praises this “flagship book” which “explains with rare clarity the reasons for the Moroccanness of the Sahara”. “A formidable effective argument,” she continues […]a legacy delivered by one of the most eminent experts on the subject.”
Which never ceases to vilify Algeria. Bernard Lugan notably denies in an article published on his blog the tragedy of October 17, 1961, when a demonstration of Algerians called by the FLN in Paris was bloodily repressed – an “imaginary massacre”. “The anti-Algerian sentiment is a major element of convergence between the kingdom and the RN, recalls the Moroccan journalist Omar Brousky. It is notably a mobilizing theme in the pieds noirs families.” Like the RN mayor of Perpignan Louis Alliot, son of a repatriate from Algeria.
Will the young Jordan Bardella, who has been rather discreet on this subject until now, follow in the footsteps of the “old guard” of the RN if he governs tomorrow? “If an RN government arrives at Matignon, relations with the Palace will be at their best!”, Omar Brousky says ironically. But we must not forget that there is still a president called Emmanuel Macron, who has very bad relations with Rabat and that foreign policy often remains a reserved domain.” Questioned by the website Le 360, the former advisor to Marine Le Pen, Aymeric Chauprade, states bluntly that “Marine Le Pen will recognize the Moroccanness of the Sahara if she is elected in 2027.” “In cohabitation mode, the RN will not be able to do everything it wants on the international level, he admits. On the other hand, it will be able to slow down, block, moderate President Macron on a certain number of initiatives.”
Alongside Jordan Bardella, one man should also work in this direction: Eric Ciotti, the leader of the Republicans, newly allied with the RN, met Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch on May 5, 2023. That same day, he appeared on the front page of one of Morocco’s most widely read weeklies, alongside Rachida Dati. With this unequivocal title: “We recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.”
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