For several months now, Paris has been actively pushing for a new direction within the European Union. The French government believes that European competitiveness can no longer solely rely on open markets and global competition. Instead, it advocates for a robust industrial policy, favoring European interests in strategic sectors, and actively reducing dependencies, particularly on China. Within the European Commission, Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné is spearheading the proposed industrial acceleration regulation. Despite internal adjustments that have scaled back its initial ambitions, France maintains an assertive stance, now seeking to broaden the text’s scope. This means 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 even the chemical sector.
These very sectors are precisely where Franco-Moroccan industrial collaboration is most advanced. France is arguably the EU member state whose productive apparatus is most intricately linked with Morocco’s. This unique position highlights a paradox: Paris championing a demanding “Made in Europe” while simultaneously cultivating a two-decade-long strategy of co-industrialization with a non-EU nation. In the automotive industry, Renault’s facilities in Tangier and Stellantis’s operations in Kenitra now function as direct extensions of French production lines. Component manufacturers in Morocco supply European industrial sites directly. A similar trend is evident in aeronautics, where companies like Safran, Daher, and Latécoère have progressively integrated Moroccan industrial capabilities into their value chains. The Kingdom has evolved beyond a mere subcontracting hub; it now directly contributes to the competitiveness of French and broader European industrial output. This integration is currently expanding into highly strategic areas, including electric vehicle batteries, green hydrogen, critical materials, port infrastructure, and digital technologies.
“France is probably the member state whose productive apparatus is most intertwined with Morocco’s”
Paris’s objective is not to isolate Europe but to prevent a broad “Made with Europe” concept—one that indiscriminately encompasses the Union’s eighty or so trading partners—from diluting the essence of European preference. France advocates for a more discerning approach: differentiating countries that genuinely contribute to European competitiveness and supply security from those that remain simple external suppliers, or even pose a threat to European sovereignty.
How widely can this vision be embraced? By mid-July, the 27 member states are expected to conduct an initial political assessment of the ongoing work within the Council on the industrial acceleration regulation. Germany’s position will be crucial. Berlin has historically viewed French proposals for European industrial preference with reservation, fearing trade restrictions from Beijing and Chinese retaliation against its powerful automotive industry. However, under pressure from an unprecedented industrial crisis and a domestic political debate intensified by the rise of the AFD, Germany can no longer simply uphold traditional free trade principles. Could selective openness to trusted partners represent a potential compromise between Paris and Berlin? This concept will be pivotal in determining the future of the Franco-Moroccan industrial partnership. While France has never officially requested Morocco’s inclusion among future trusted partners, its overall industrial and diplomatic strategy positions the Kingdom as a natural candidate for such treatment.
The battle will also unfold in the European Parliament, where two French rapporteurs hold key positions in the examination of the regulation. A particular responsibility will fall upon them, and upon the French delegations: to ensure that the new regulatory boundaries being drawn by the Union do not undermine the future of the Moroccan-French industrial partnership.
