France is planning to lift visa restrictions for nationals of Morocco, the European country’s Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said following talks on Friday with Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita in Rabat.
“We've taken measures with our Moroccan partners to re-establish a consular relationship,” Colonna said following her two-day trip to the North African kingdom, adding that the two nations are ready to “write a new page together” after more than one year of tensions.
As for whether Paris had received anything in exchange for the move, the kingdom’s head of diplomacy noted that the French government’s decision to remove visa limitations for Moroccans was unilateral, just like the initial decision to impose these limitations.
Last year, France tightened requirements for obtaining visas for nationals of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, arguing that the three North African states did not cooperate in issuing consular passes necessary for the return of their nationals expelled from France.
The number of visas given to nationals from the three Maghreb nations was halved in comparison to the previous year. Following the visa curb, relations worsened between Paris and Rabat, with the latter claiming that the move was “unjustified”.