France and Morocco mend ties after visa spat
France and Morocco announced they were mending fences after months of tensions over visas, and said President Emmanuel Macron would visit the North African kingdom in early 2023.
Speaking in Rabat alongside her Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said it was time to "write a new page together".
The two countries have been at loggerheads since September 2021, when Paris halved its visa quota for Moroccans in retaliation for the kingdom's alleged refusal to repatriate citizens living as irregular migrants in France.
But Colonna said the countries had returned to "full consular cooperation" since.
Asked about the spiky issue of the Western Sahara, the two ministers played down any tensions.
Colonna said that the kingdom could "count on France's backing".
Morocco’s foreign minister Nasser Bourita said the French move to normalise relations “goes in the right direction” following the tensions prompted by the visa dispute.
Bourita added that Morocco had "never seen France's position (on the Western Sahara) as negative".
Bourita said France had made a unilateral decision to end restrictions on visas after what he said was also a unilateral decision to introduce the restrictions.
“Today, the decision to restore normal consular relationships is again a unilateral decision that Morocco respects and would not comment on officially,” he added.
