France-Morocco industrial ties face new european policy scrutiny

For several months now, Paris has been actively lobbying the European Union. The French government contends that European competitiveness can no longer solely rely on open markets and global competition. Instead, it necessitates a robust industrial policy, a clear European preference in strategic sectors, and a reduction in dependencies, particularly on China. Within the European Commission, Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné champions the proposed Industrial Acceleration Regulation. Despite internal compromises that scaled back its initial ambitions, France maintains an assertive stance, now advocating for an expanded scope for the text. This would mean that European preference mechanisms in public procurement, purchasing, and subsidies would extend beyond clean technologies, energy-intensive industries, and electric vehicles to include critical sectors like shipbuilding, railway equipment, and the chemical industry.

Crucially, these are precisely the sectors where Franco-Moroccan industrial collaboration is already highly developed. France likely stands as the EU member state whose productive apparatus is most deeply intertwined with Morocco’s. This unique position creates a distinct challenge: Paris advocates for a stringent “Made in Europe” policy, yet for two decades, it has cultivated a co-industrialization strategy with a nation outside the EU. In the automotive sector, facilities like Renault’s in Tanger and Stellantis’s in Kenitra now function as seamless extensions of French production lines. Component suppliers in Morocco directly feed European industrial sites. A similar dynamic is evident in aeronautics, where companies such as Safran, Daher, and Latécoère have progressively integrated Moroccan industrial capabilities into their value chains. The Kingdom has evolved beyond a mere subcontracting workshop; it now directly contributes to the competitiveness of French and broader European industrial output. This integration is even expanding into the most strategic areas, including batteries for electric vehicles, green hydrogen, critical materials, port infrastructure, and digital technologies.

“France is probably the member state whose productive apparatus is most intertwined with Morocco”

Paris’s objective is not to isolate Europe but to prevent a broad “Made with Europe” approach—one that indiscriminately includes the Union’s eighty or so commercial partners—from diluting the essence of European preference. France advocates for a more selective strategy: distinguishing countries that genuinely contribute to European competitiveness and supply security from those that remain simple external suppliers, or even pose a threat to European sovereignty.

The extent to which this vision can be shared remains to be seen. By mid-July, the 27 member states are expected to conduct an initial political assessment of the ongoing work on the Industrial Acceleration Regulation within the Council. Germany’s position will be pivotal. Berlin has long viewed French proposals for European industrial preference with reservation, primarily due to concerns about commercial restrictions from Beijing and potential Chinese reprisals against its powerful automotive industry. However, under the pressure of an unprecedented industrial crisis and a hardening domestic political debate exacerbated by the rise of the AfD, Germany can no longer simply champion classic free trade. Could a selective openness to trusted partners represent a compromise between Paris and Berlin? This concept will be central to the future of the Franco-Moroccan industrial partnership. While France has never officially requested Morocco’s inclusion among future trusted partners, its entire industrial and diplomatic strategy positions the Kingdom as a natural candidate for such treatment.

The battle will also unfold in the European Parliament, where two French rapporteurs hold key positions in the examination of the regulation. A particular responsibility will fall upon them, and upon the French delegations, to ensure that the new regulatory boundaries currently being drawn by the Union do not jeopardize the future of the Morocco-France industrial partnership.