Migration diplomacy in a de facto destination country: Morocco’s new intermestic migration policy and international socialization by/with the EU

ABSTRACT

This article examines Morocco’s migration diplomacy with a focus on the New Migration Policy (NMP) it launched in 2013 as a destination country. It argues that the NMP serves the objectives of Moroccan foreign policy towards both Africa and the EU, as international socialization by/with the latter remains a primary driving force for the country’s migration policies. The main recent change in Morocco-EU socialization has been a return from norm-driven role playing to an overt exhibition of rational choice and a transactional attitude around migration and border control practices – while role playing has been reoriented towards Africa and the wider international community.

KEYWORDS:

• Migration diplomacy
• migration policy
• foreign policy
• international socialization
• Morocco
• European Union
• African Union

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the interviewees for their time and input, and this themed section’s editors, Peter Seeberg and Jan Völkel, for their initiative and leadership. The paper has also benefitted from feedback received at the conference ‘The International Politics of Middle East Migration’ (University of Birmingham, March 2019), especially from Fiona Adamson, as well as the anonymous reviewers’ comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Interviews

1. Nezha Chekrouni, delegate minister for Moroccans Residing Abroad (2002-2007). Rabat, 12 February 2006.

2. Luis Planas, ambassador of Spain to Morocco (2004-2010). Rabat, 20 February 2006.

3. EU Delegation in Morocco. Rabat, 6 June 2013.

4. Mounir Belayachi, deputy ambassador of Morocco to the EU. Brussels, 23 May 2014.

5. Nabil Abderrazaq, minister plenipotentiary in charge of Migration Affairs and EU-Africa Relations, Mission of Morocco to the EU. Brussels, 23 May 2014.

6. Eneko Landaburu, former ambassador and head of the EU Delegation in Morocco (2009-2013). Brussels, 23 May 2014.

7. Alexis Konstantopoulos, official in charge of Morocco Desk, Maghreb Division, European External Action Service. Phone, 6 June 2014.

8. Javier Otazu, journalist, EFE correspondent in Morocco. Email, 22 November 2019.

9. Abdelwahab Maalmi, professor of International Relations, University Hassan II Casablanca. Email, 27 November 2019.

10. Mehdi Lahlou, professor of Economics, National Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics (INSEA), Rabat, Morocco. Phone, 27 November 2019.

11. Manuel Lorenzo, former head of MPDL delegation in Morocco (1999-2017). Email, 27 November 2019.

12. Aida Alami, Morocco-based freelance journalist. Phone, 29 November 2019.

13. Abdelkrim Belguendouz, professor of Economics, University Mohammed V Rabat. Phone, 2 December 2019.

14. UNHCR Morocco. Phone, 10 December 2019.

Notes

1. All quotes from non-English sources are translations by the authors. Omissions within quotes are also theirs.

2. See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23959892.

3. See the ministry’s organization chart in https://marocainsdumonde.gov.ma/organigramme-marocains-du-monde-mcmre/.

4. See http://www.un.org/en/conf/migration/.

5. See https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/mediterranean/location/5226.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Gobierno de España (ES), the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) [CSO2017-84949-C3-3-P].