Brussels, 21/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European External Relations Commissioner, is to be in Rabat from Tuesday evening to Thursday for a working visit to rekindle Euro-Moroccan bilateral relations. “We work very well with Morocco” and “things are moving in the right direction”, she said in a statement to the Moroccan agency, MAP.
Morocco is calling for “advanced status” in its relations with the EU compared to its neighbours of the southern rim of the Mediterranean. Its prime minister, Driss Jettou, had come to Brussels to press for this on 9 March (EUROPE 9149). Morocco's role as a vanguard is acknowledged in Brussels where it is also noted that Morocco has signed up to many European policies and programmes (Galileo, Open Skies, etc.) and has already engaged in negotiations for greater liberalisation of agricultural trade. Furthermore, from Friday on, formal discussion will be open on the liberalisation of services. The fisheries agreement initialled by the two parties last December and currently being put to the approval of the European Parliament and Council, still remains to be settled, however. The European side did show some reservation as Community operators were unable to obtain licenses outside the 60,000 tonne quota. Morocco, for its part, considers it is simply applying an “exclusivity clause” according to European Commission requirements, which generally include it in fishing agreements with third countries so that the text signed gives fishing activity by European fishing fleets a “clear framework”.
Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner's working visit will allow a general overview to be made and allow for the action plan conceived within the framework for EU Neighbourhood Policy to be examined, especially support for internal reform programmes. All the thematic working groups and committees created within this framework are already at work, and an agreement is said to be within reach for the creation of a human rights sub-committee. It will also be a question of migration policy. The aim of “balanced management of human flows” is considered feasible by the European Commission, and Morocco is organising, in Marrakesh in July, a trilateral meeting to bring together the countries of origin (essentially sub-Saharan Africa), transit countries (Mediterranean) and destination countries (EU countries).