In the case of alleged corruption targeting MEPs supposedly close to Morocco, the president of the Morocco-European Union (EU) Joint Parliamentary Commission, Lahcen Haddad, said that on the contrary these people did not want to work with their counterparts Moroccans. Explanations.
The European Parliament has led several offensives against Morocco in recent months, the “Marocgate” which grew out of the “Qatargate” and which must now become a separate affair, the story of espionage using the Pegasus software, and recently in January the vote on a resolution on the rights of journalists.
Among these cases, Marocgate, which incriminates MEPs who allegedly received gifts from the Kingdom, is a good example to raise since, according to Lahcen Haddad, who heads the Morocco-European Union Joint Parliamentary Commission, these same people have everything done to avoid working within the framework of the mechanisms set up between the Moroccan and European Parliaments.
“We had a common working framework on which we agreed since 2008, and therefore mechanisms for dialogue and consultation within the framework of the joint committee between the Moroccan Parliament and the European Parliament”he explained to MoroccoLatestNews, affirming that during these discussions and meetings, all subjects are raised including freedom of the press, human rights, migration, good neighborliness, security etc. .
“By adopting this resolution, the European Parliament has broken this mechanism and overridden it”said the former minister, deploring a joint work that took years to do “gone up in smoke” because of‘a reckless and irresponsible decision’.
Lahcen Haddad also explained that at the level of the joint commission, his European counterparts posed several obstacles to the smooth running of the work.
“My European counterpart in the Mixed Commission is Andrea Cozzolino”he remarked, noting that he came after Antonio Panzeri, currently imprisoned on corruption charges linked to Morocco. “He was boycotting us, he was not dealing with us”insisted the chairman of the commission.
And Francisco Jorge, his right-hand man, he continued, “nHe didn’t respond to emails sent to him.pointing out that in the time of Panzeri, “He himself did not deal with us”.
“So these people who are accused of working for Morocco, did not deal with us at all, on the contrary, they posed all possible obstacles to avoid working with us. This pushed us to get in touch with parliamentary groups and MPs” directly to continue working.
The former minister explained that it was in a context highly hostile to Morocco, made up of groups working for the interests of Algeria and the separatist militia of the Polisario front, that Moroccan parliamentarians were obliged to go each time in Strasbourg or Brussels.
“In 2022 alone, no less than 12 incriminating questions against Morocco were asked and no less than 18 amendments unfavorable to the Kingdom were submitted in relation to various reports”, he recalled.