Europe’s industrial future: the franco-moroccan partnership at a crossroads
For several months, Paris has been a leading voice within the European Union, advocating for a significant shift in economic strategy. The French government believes that European competitiveness can no longer solely depend on open markets and global competition. Instead, it calls for a proactive industrial policy, prioritizing European production in crucial sectors, and actively reducing reliance on China. Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné is championing the proposed Industrial Acceleration Regulation within the European Commission. Despite internal compromises that have tempered its initial scope, France remains resolute, now pushing to broaden the regulation’s reach. This would extend European preference mechanisms in public procurement, purchasing, and subsidies beyond clean technologies, energy-intensive industries, and electric vehicles, to encompass vital sectors such as shipbuilding, railway equipment, and chemicals.
Intriguingly, these very sectors—shipbuilding, rail, and chemicals—are areas where Franco-Moroccan industrial cooperation has already achieved significant maturity. France stands out as perhaps the EU member state whose production apparatus is most deeply interwoven with that of Morocco. This unique entanglement presents a singular challenge for Paris: advocating for a stringent “Made in Europe” policy while simultaneously having cultivated a two-decade-long strategy of co-industrialization with a non-EU nation. In the automotive sector, facilities like Renault’s plant in Tanger and Stellantis’s operations in Kenitra now function as seamless extensions of French production lines. Component manufacturers in Morocco supply parts directly to European industrial sites. A similar pattern is evident in aeronautics, where companies such as Safran, Daher, and Latécoère have progressively integrated Moroccan industrial capabilities into their value chains. The Kingdom of Morocco has evolved beyond a mere subcontracting hub; it now directly enhances the competitiveness of French and, by extension, European industrial output. This profound integration now extends into highly strategic domains, including electric vehicle batteries, green hydrogen, critical materials, port infrastructure, and digital technologies.
«The productive infrastructure of France is arguably more integrated with Morocco’s than any other EU member state.»
Paris clarifies that its objective is not to isolate Europe economically, but rather to prevent a broad “Made with Europe” concept—one that indiscriminately includes the Union’s approximately eighty trade partners—from diluting the essence of European preference. France advocates for a more discerning strategy: differentiating between nations that genuinely contribute to European competitiveness and supply chain security, and those that merely serve as external suppliers, or even pose a risk to European sovereignty.
The extent to which this vision gains wider acceptance remains to be seen. By mid-July, the 27 member states are expected to conduct their initial political assessment of the ongoing work within the Council concerning the Industrial Acceleration Regulation. Germany’s stance will be pivotal. Berlin has historically viewed France’s proposals for European industrial preference with apprehension, primarily due to concerns that it could provoke trade restrictions from Beijing and retaliatory measures against its formidable automotive industry. However, facing an unprecedented industrial crisis and a domestic political landscape increasingly shaped by the rise of the AfD, Germany can no longer simply champion traditional free trade. Could a strategy of selective openness to “trusted partners” forge a compromise between Paris and Berlin? The future of the Franco-Moroccan industrial partnership hinges on this very concept. While France has never formally requested Morocco’s inclusion among future trusted partners, its overarching industrial and diplomatic strategy positions the Kingdom as an undeniable natural candidate for such a designation.
The legislative battle will also unfold within the European Parliament, where two French rapporteurs hold influential positions in the review process of the regulation. A distinct responsibility falls upon them, and indeed upon the entire French delegation: to ensure that the new regulatory boundaries currently being shaped by the Union do not inadvertently undermine the future stability of the Moroccan-French industrial partnership.