Morocco has made official this Friday that its ambassador to France, Mohamed Benchaaboun, will no longer carry out his diplomatic duties in the European country, with no replacement in sight, following an order by King Mohamed VI on January 19.
The departure of Benchaaboun, who presented his credentials to French President Emmanuel Macron on July 23, 2022, means a vacuum of Moroccan diplomatic representation on French territory pending the filling of the vacancy.
Pending official conformation, Mohamed VI’s order, picked up by the Moroccan daily ‘Hespress’, took place on the same day when the European Parliament issued a statement alerting the lack of press freedom in Morocco, as well as the alleged bribery scheme to gain influence in Brussels, which has been strongly criticized by the Alawite kingdom.
The accusations coming from Morocco about an alleged campaign by France within the European Union to defame them reached such an extent that the French ambassador in Rabat, Christophe Lecourtier, came out and underlined that they had nothing to do with that resolution in Brussels.
«We are responsible for the decisions of the French authorities, (but) the European Parliament is far from our authority. These are personalities who have been elected. There is a diversity of groups and currents of ideas. The French government cannot be held responsible for the MEPs,» he concluded.
That statement by the MEPs caused a great stir among Moroccan institutions, which went so far as to create a committee to re-evaluate and review relations with Brussels, reports the Moroccan daily.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
