France-Morocco industrial ties face new EU policy challenges
For several months, Paris has been actively lobbying the European Union. The French government contends that European competitiveness can no longer solely depend on open markets and global competition. Instead, it necessitates a proactive industrial strategy, prioritizing European preference in crucial sectors, and significantly reducing dependencies on China. Within the European Commission, Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné is spearheading the proposed regulation for industrial acceleration. Despite internal adjustments that have scaled back its initial ambitions, France maintains an assertive stance. It now seeks to broaden the scope of this legislation: mechanisms for European preference in public procurement, purchasing, and subsidies would no longer be confined to clean technologies, energy-intensive industries, and electric vehicles, but would extend to areas like shipbuilding, railway equipment, and the chemical industry.
These very sectors are precisely where Franco-Moroccan industrial cooperation has achieved its most advanced integration. France stands out as arguably the EU member state whose productive apparatus is most deeply intertwined with that of Morocco. This unique situation presents a paradox: Paris advocates for a stringent “Made in Europe” policy, while simultaneously having cultivated a two-decade-long co-industrialization strategy with a nation outside the EU. In the automotive sector, both the Renault plants in Tangier and the Stellantis facilities in Kenitra operate as direct extensions of French production lines. Component manufacturers in Morocco supply parts that flow directly into European industrial sites. A similar dynamic is evident in aeronautics, where companies like Safran, Daher, and Latécoère have progressively integrated Moroccan industrial capabilities into their own value chains. The Kingdom of Morocco has transcended its role as a mere subcontracting workshop; it now actively contributes to the competitiveness of French and broader European industrial output. This integration is currently expanding into highly strategic domains, including batteries for electric vehicles, green hydrogen, critical materials, port infrastructure, and digital technologies.
“France stands out as arguably the EU member state whose productive apparatus is most deeply intertwined with that of Morocco.”
Paris’s objective is not to isolate Europe, but rather to prevent a broad “Made with Europe” concept – one that would indiscriminately encompass the Union’s approximately eighty trade partners – from diluting the essence of European preference. France champions a more selective approach: distinguishing between countries that genuinely contribute to European competitiveness and supply chain security, and those that remain simply external suppliers, or even pose a threat to European sovereignty.
The extent to which this vision will gain widespread acceptance remains to be seen. In mid-July, the 27 member states will convene for an initial political assessment of the ongoing work within the Council on the industrial acceleration regulation. Germany’s position will prove pivotal. Berlin has historically viewed French proposals for European industrial preference with reservations, primarily due to concerns about potential trade restrictions from Beijing and Chinese retaliatory measures against its vital automotive industry. However, facing an unprecedented industrial crisis and a heightened domestic political debate fueled by the rise of the AfD, Germany can no longer simply uphold classical free-trade principles. Could a selective openness to trusted partners emerge as a viable compromise between Paris and Berlin? This very notion will ultimately shape the future trajectory of the Franco-Moroccan industrial partnership. While France has never officially requested Morocco’s inclusion among future trusted partners, its comprehensive industrial and diplomatic strategy positions the Kingdom as a natural candidate for such a designation.
The debate will also unfold within the European Parliament, where two French rapporteurs hold influential positions in the examination of the regulation. A distinct responsibility will fall upon them, as well as the French delegations: to ensure that the new regulatory boundaries currently being defined by the Union do not inadvertently undermine the future of the Morocco-France industrial partnership.
