Relationship between France and Morocco is a mixture of tension and affection

France and Morocco have a relatively relaxed post-colonial relationship, but not without tensions, which risks coming to the fore when their teams face each other in the semifinals of the World Cup in Qatar, on Wednesday (14).

“The relationship is much calmer” than between France and Algeria, despite the inevitable occasional tensions and gray areas, Moroccan intellectual Hassan Aourid told AFP on the eve of this expected meeting.

For Auorid, “there are undoubtedly segments of Moroccan society that have a very affectionate relationship with France, such as the bourgeoisie, the technostructure, the circle of political leaders, etc”.

Morocco proclaimed its independence in 1956, ending four decades of French and Spanish protectorate.

Since then, despite Spanish competition, France has been the country’s main economic partner and, by far, the main foreign investor. French culture also remains very popular among the elites of the Alawite kingdom, with many of its members educated in French schools.

Almost 54,000 French people live in this North African country, and a million Moroccans live in the second largest economy in the European Union (EU).

new rivals

In Morocco, as in the rest of the African continent, France’s influence has been challenged by new rivals in recent years, as shown by the rise of American, Canadian and even Belgian schools.

Younger generations, in particular, prefer English, “because it is the language of new technologies and social networks” and “because French is perceived as the language of the elites”, explains French-Moroccan writer Hajar Azell, who lives between Paris and Rabat.

The Confucius Institute, the Chinese equivalent of the Cervantes Institute in Spanish, is also advancing in Morocco, as well as the content of television stations in the Gulf countries, especially among the more popular classes.

“There are segments [da sociedade] influenced by pan-Arabism, by Islamism, for whom France is not only a western country, but also the enemy that controlled and colonized Morocco. There is a change,” says Aourid.

For Béatrice Hibou, from the French scientific research center CNRS, “the emergence of other relationships different from the French one is inevitable and constitutes a rebalancing, also due to the loss of influence, above all, economic and political, of France”.

This loss of influence is mainly explained by the decline of French cultural and educational policy in Morocco in recent decades, according to observers.

“French schools and lyceums, where French people were admitted for free and where Moroccans paid a little, are now paid and in an absolutely delusional way for non-French people,” added Hibou.

According to the researcher, people say to themselves: “Since I have to pay, why don’t I send my son to an English school where, the way the world is, he will have more opportunities?”.