For several months, Paris has been actively lobbying the European Union. The French government asserts that European competitiveness can no longer rely solely on open markets and global competition. Instead, it necessitates a robust industrial policy, a clear European preference in strategic sectors, and a deliberate reduction of dependencies, particularly concerning China. Within the European Commission, Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné is championing the proposed regulation for industrial acceleration. Despite internal adjustments that have scaled back its initial ambitions, France maintains an assertive stance. It now seeks to broaden the text’s scope: 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 expanded sectors are precisely where Franco-Moroccan industrial cooperation has already achieved its most significant advancements. France stands out as perhaps the EU Member State whose productive apparatus is most intricately linked with that of Morocco. This unique entanglement explains Paris’s singular position: it champions a stringent “Made in Europe” while simultaneously, over the past two decades, having forged a co-industrialization strategy with a nation outside the EU. In the automotive industry, facilities like Renault in Tanger and Stellantis in Kenitra now function as seamless extensions of French production lines. Component manufacturers in Morocco supply parts directly to industrial sites across Europe. A similar dynamic is evident in the aerospace sector, where companies such as Safran, Daher, and Latécoère have progressively integrated Moroccan industrial capabilities into their value chains. The Kingdom of Morocco has evolved beyond a mere subcontracting hub; it now directly contributes to the competitiveness of French and wider European industrial output. This integration is currently expanding into highly strategic domains, including batteries for electric vehicles, green hydrogen, critical materials, port infrastructure, and digital technologies.
“France’s industrial landscape is arguably the most deeply integrated with Morocco’s among all EU Member States.”
Paris’s objective is not to isolate Europe but to prevent a broad “Made with Europe” approach, encompassing the Union’s approximately eighty trade partners indiscriminately, from diluting the essence of European preference. France advocates a more selective strategy: distinguishing countries that genuinely contribute to European competitiveness and supply chain security from those that remain simple external suppliers—or even pose a threat to European sovereignty.
To what extent can this vision be universally embraced? By mid-July, the 27 Member States will undertake an initial political evaluation of the work initiated within the Council on the industrial acceleration regulation. Germany’s stance will be pivotal. Berlin has long viewed French proposals for European industrial preference with reservations. Germany’s powerful export industry feared trade restrictions from Beijing and potential Chinese reprisals against its automotive sector. 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 advocate for classical free trade. Could a selective openness towards trusted partners represent a potential compromise between Paris and Berlin? This concept will critically shape the future trajectory of the France Morocco industrial partnership. While France has never officially requested Morocco’s inclusion among future trusted partners, its comprehensive industrial and diplomatic strategy positions the Kingdom as a natural candidate for such recognition.
The debate will also unfold within the European Parliament, where two French rapporteurs hold influential positions in the examination of the regulation. A particular 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 undermine the future of the Morocco-France industrial partnership.
