France-Morocco industrial ties face new EU policy challenges

For several months, Paris has been actively urging the European Union to redefine its economic strategy. The French government believes that European competitiveness can no longer solely depend on open markets and global competition. Instead, it advocates for a robust industrial policy, emphasizing a ‘European preference’ in critical sectors and reducing reliance on China. Within the European Commission, Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné champions the proposed industrial acceleration regulation. Despite internal compromises that have tempered its initial scope, France maintains an assertive stance. It now seeks to broaden the text’s application: mechanisms for European preference in public procurement, purchasing, and subsidies would extend beyond clean technologies, energy-intensive industries, and electric vehicles to include shipbuilding, railway equipment, and the chemical sector.

These very sectors are precisely where Franco-Moroccan industrial collaboration is most advanced. France stands out among EU member states for having its productive apparatus most deeply interwoven with Morocco’s. This unique position places Paris in a distinctive situation: it champions a stringent ‘Made in Europe’ policy while, over the past two decades, simultaneously cultivating a co-industrialization strategy with a non-EU nation. In the automotive industry, Renault’s facilities in Tangier and Stellantis’s operations in Kenitra now function as direct extensions of French production lines. Component suppliers in Morocco produce parts that directly feed European industrial sites. A similar trend is evident in aeronautics, where companies like Safran, Daher, and Latécoère have progressively integrated Moroccan industrial capabilities into their value chains. The Kingdom has evolved beyond a mere subcontracting hub; it now directly contributes to the competitiveness of French and broader European industrial output. This integration is increasingly encompassing highly strategic areas, including electric vehicle batteries, green hydrogen, critical materials, port infrastructure, and digital technologies.

«France is probably the Member State whose productive apparatus is most intertwined with Morocco’s»

Paris’s objective is not to isolate Europe but to prevent a broad ‘Made with Europe’ approach—encompassing all eighty or so of the Union’s commercial partners indiscriminately—from diluting the essence of European preference. France advocates for a more discerning strategy: differentiating countries that genuinely contribute to European competitiveness and supply security from those that remain merely external suppliers, or even pose a threat to European sovereignty.

The extent to which this vision will be embraced remains to be seen. By mid-July, the 27 EU member states will conduct an initial political assessment of the ongoing work in the Council regarding the industrial acceleration regulation. Germany’s position will be pivotal. Berlin has historically viewed French proposals for European industrial preference with caution, primarily due to its strong export economy and concerns about potential trade restrictions and Chinese retaliation against its automotive industry. However, under the pressure of an unprecedented industrial crisis and a domestic political debate intensified by the rise of the AFD, Germany can no longer simply adhere to traditional free-trade principles. Could selective openness to ‘trusted partners’ offer a point of compromise between Paris and Berlin? This notion will be central to the future trajectory of the Franco-Moroccan industrial partnership. While France has never formally requested Morocco’s inclusion among future trusted partners, its entire industrial and diplomatic strategy positions the Kingdom as a natural candidate for such treatment.

The debate will also unfold within the European Parliament, where two French rapporteurs hold influential positions in the examination of the regulation. A specific responsibility will fall upon them, as well as the French delegations: to ensure that the new regulatory boundaries being drawn by the Union do not inadvertently weaken the future of the Morocco-France industrial partnership.