King Mohammed VI of Morocco said on Friday that the current model of migration cooperation has "reached its limits", and warned that bilateral cooperation must never be subject to "pressure, threat or blackmail". It was his first public speech since a mass crossing into Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on Morocco's northern coast, in July.
Speaking at the opening of the first session of a new parliament in Rabat, elected on 23 September, the king did not directly mention the Ceuta crisis, in which more than 70,000 people are reported to have crossed from Morocco, according to RFI. He did, however, denounce what he called "irresponsible statements by certain political and media circles" and their "flagrant instrumentalisation" of the situation, remarks widely understood as aimed at critics in Spain. Spain was the only country he named, at the end of his roughly 12-minute address. He said cooperation faced major challenges linked to "outdated legal provisions" and "judicial decisions removed from reality" that prevent the repatriation of minors and adult Moroccan citizens. El País notes that this appeared to refer to international and Spanish rules protecting children abroad, and to a Spanish Supreme Court ruling that barred summary returns of migrants intercepted trying to swim into the enclaves.
The king stressed that Morocco has established itself as a "responsible and reliable partner" and expects the same from its allies. He announced that Morocco will present its partners with a document setting out a "strategic, clear and practical vision" for a new orientation, without giving details. El País links the message to the question of European Union funding: Morocco puts the annual cost of its migration controls at about 500 million euros, against less than 150 million euros received from Brussels.
The speech came days before a planned visit by Spain's King Felipe VI to Ceuta and Melilla, the two Spanish enclaves in North Africa that Morocco has historically viewed with sensitivity. Mohammed VI did not refer to the trip.
Domestically, the king urged parliament to put young people "at the centre of public policy", a year after mass protests by the so-called Generation Z movement. Only 4 percent of 18-to-25-year-olds registered to vote in the recent elections, and about three million young Moroccans are neither in education nor employment. He also called on the private sector to create jobs and urged faster decentralisation to narrow the gap between coastal and interior regions.
The speech opened a new political cycle. Fatima Ezzahra Mansouri of the centrist Authenticity and Modernity Party, which won the most seats, has been designated prime minister and, according to Moroccan press analysts cited by El País, appears to be building a centre-left coalition.
Why it matters: Spain and Morocco are closely tied on trade, security and migration control, and both are co-hosting the 2030 World Cup with Portugal. The king's call for a new framework suggests Rabat wants to renegotiate the terms of that cooperation.