European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement to Visit Morocco on 1-3 March

The European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi, will pay a working visit to Morocco, from 1 to 03 March 2023, which is part of the strengthening of the strategic and multiform partnership between Rabat and Brussels. According to the European Commission, Varhelyi will meet with Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita, on the evolution of bilateral relations and the prospects for their development, and will meet with several other Moroccan officials. The visit of the European official is part of the implementation of the Joint Political Declaration, adopted in June 2019, having established the “Euro-Moroccan Partnership of Shared Prosperity”. This Partnership is structured around four Spaces: political and security; Economic; values; knowledge, and two horizontal axes (Environment and migration). Second of its kind in less than a year, the visit of Commissioner Varhelyi comes in the context of regular contacts between the two parties, illustrated by the recent visit to Morocco of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, in January 2023. This visit is in addition to the previous trips of six other members of the College of Commissioners for the year 2022 alone, including the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der LEYEN. This pace of visits by European officials reflects the sustained dynamism of the Morocco-EU relationship and the continued commitment of the Union to the development of a Partnership of equal and strategic nature with the Kingdom. This visit reinforces the centrality of the multidimensional partnership that binds the two parties and confirms their common desire to further strengthen it in several structuring areas in a context marked by many challenges. This trip to Morocco, considered by the EU as a trusted, reliable and credible partner, will thus contribute to make the year 2023 an important step to strengthen and preserve the effectiveness of the Morocco-EU partnership, in view of the holding of the 15th Session of the Morocco-EU Association Council. It will be an opportunity to reiterate the commitment of the European Union and Morocco to maintain their mobilization and to take the necessary measures to consolidate the resilience of their Partnership and ensure its continuity in the service of their common interests, in a spirit of mutual trust.