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 of dependencies, particularly on China. Within the European Commission, Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné is championing the proposed Industrial Acceleration Regulation. Despite internal compromises that have scaled back its initial ambitions, France maintains an assertive stance. It now advocates for broadening the regulation’s scope: mechanisms for European preference in public procurement, purchasing, and subsidies would extend beyond clean technologies, energy-intensive industries, and electric vehicles to encompass shipbuilding, railway equipment, and even the chemical sector.
These very sectors are precisely where Franco-Moroccan industrial cooperation is most developed. France likely stands as the EU member state whose productive apparatus is most intricately intertwined with that of Morocco. This unique position places Paris in a particular dilemma: while advocating for a demanding “Made in Europe” approach, it has simultaneously cultivated a co-industrialization strategy over two decades with a country outside the EU. In the automotive industry, Renault’s plants in Tanger and Stellantis’s facilities in Kenitra now operate as direct extensions of French production lines. Component manufacturers in Morocco supply parts directly to European industrial sites. A similar dynamic is evident in aeronautics, where companies like Safran, Daher, and Latécoère have progressively integrated Moroccan industrial capabilities into their value chains. The Kingdom of Morocco is no longer merely a subcontracting workshop; it actively contributes to the competitiveness of French and European industrial output. This integration is now expanding into highly 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 that of Morocco»
Paris’s objective is not to isolate Europe, but to prevent a broad “Made with Europe” concept – one that indiscriminately includes all eighty or so of the Union’s trade partners – from diluting the essence of European preference. France champions a more selective approach: distinguishing nations that genuinely contribute to European competitiveness and supply security from those that remain simple external suppliers, or even pose a threat to European sovereignty.
How widely can this vision be embraced? As an initial political assessment of the regulation approaches within the Council, the position of Germany will be crucial. Berlin has historically viewed French proposals for European industrial preference with reservations. Germany’s powerful export sector has long feared trade restrictions from Beijing and potential Chinese reprisals against its automotive industry. However, facing an unprecedented industrial crisis and a hardening domestic political debate exacerbated by the rise of the AfD, Germany can no longer simply advocate for traditional free trade. Could a selective opening to trusted partners represent a compromise between Paris and Berlin? The future of the Franco-Moroccan industrial partnership hinges on this very notion. While France has never officially requested that Morocco be designated 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 influential positions in the regulation’s examination process. A particular responsibility rests upon them and the French delegations: to ensure that the new regulatory boundaries currently being drawn by the Union do not jeopardize the future of the Moroccan-French industrial partnership.
