Brussels, 22/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament (EP) foreign affairs committee held a meeting on Tuesday 21 June with the Moroccan minister in charge of relations with parliament, Driss Lachgar, who set out the recent political reform plan which will be put to the people in a referendum on 1st July. For MEPs, the proposed revision of the constitution was “a step in the right direction”, and they wished Morocco well, while nonetheless adding recommendations on liberties and the Sahara. Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck (ALDE, Belgium), EP rapporteur on Moroccan involvement in EU programmes, welcomed the path chosen by Morocco which has the advantage of coming in ahead of popular demands and sparing the country the upheavals experienced in other countries in the region.
The minister, a member of the Socialist Party (USFP) was accompanied by a delegation of elected members, including from the fundamentalist PJD, and representative of civil society Driss Yazami, who heads a human rights organisation. Speaking to MEPs, he highlighted what he saw as two major features: - the power of political management will be given to the prime minister, selected from within the ranks of the party which wins most seats following elections which will be fair and without interference from the king; - and the relative removal of power from the monarch. The king will remain a holy or “inviolable” personage, as the leader of Moroccan believers, whether Muslim or not, at the head of a “parliamentary monarchy”. In response to questions from EUROPE, the minister did not rule out having European observers, if the EU so wished, at the referendum on 1st July. The draft revision is not, however, to the liking of all and, according to press agencies, the “20 February Movement”, which brought several thousand demonstrators onto the streets of the major cities of Morocco at the weekend, says the proposed reform does not go far enough on democracy, limiting the powers of the monarch and tackling corruption. (F.B./transl.rt)