For several months, Paris has been actively pushing the European Union for a recalibration of its economic strategy. The French government argues that European competitiveness can no longer rely solely on market openness and global competition. Instead, it requires a robust, proactive industrial policy, prioritizing European interests in strategic sectors and reducing dependencies, particularly on China. Within the European Commission, Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné is championing the proposed regulation for industrial acceleration. Despite internal compromises that tempered its initial ambitions, France maintains an assertive stance. It is now advocating for an expanded scope for the text: 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.
Significantly, these are precisely the sectors where Franco-Moroccan industrial cooperation is already at its most advanced stage. France arguably stands as the EU member state whose productive apparatus is most deeply integrated with that of Morocco. This unique situation creates a singular position for Paris: it champions a demanding “Made in Europe” concept while having cultivated a two-decade-long co-industrialization strategy with a country outside the EU. In the automotive industry, both Renault factories in Tangier and Stellantis plants in Kenitra now operate as direct extensions of French production lines. Component suppliers in Morocco manufacture parts that feed directly into European industrial sites. A similar dynamic is at play in the aeronautics sector, where companies such as Safran, Daher, and Latécoère have progressively integrated Moroccan industrial capabilities into their own value chains. The Kingdom has evolved beyond a mere subcontracting workshop; it now directly contributes to the industrial competitiveness of both French and broader European production. This integration currently extends to highly strategic domains, including electric vehicle batteries, green hydrogen, critical materials, port infrastructure, and digital technologies.
«France is likely the member state whose production system is most integrated with Morocco’s»
Paris’s objective is not to isolate Europe but to prevent a broad “Made with Europe” approach—one that might indiscriminately encompass the Union’s approximately eighty commercial partners—from diluting the core substance of European preference. France advocates for 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 potential threat to European sovereignty.
To what extent can this vision gain widespread acceptance? By mid-July, the 27 member states will be invited to conduct an initial political evaluation of the work undertaken in the Council regarding the industrial acceleration regulation. Germany’s stance will be crucial. Berlin had long viewed French proposals for European industrial preference with reservation, its export-oriented economy wary of commercial restrictions from Beijing and potential Chinese retaliation against its automotive industry. However, facing an unprecedented industrial crisis and a domestic political debate intensified by the rise of the AfD, Germany can no longer solely champion classic free trade principles. Could selective openness to trusted partners represent a viable compromise between Paris and Berlin? This specific notion will determine the future trajectory of the Franco-Moroccan industrial partnership. While France has never officially requested that Morocco be designated among future trusted partners, its comprehensive industrial and diplomatic strategy inherently positions the Kingdom as a natural candidate for such treatment.
The debate will also play out in the European Parliament, where two French rapporteurs hold critical positions in the examination of the regulation. A particular responsibility will fall upon them, as well as upon French delegations: to ensure that the new regulatory boundaries currently being defined by the Union do not inadvertently weaken the future of the Moroccan-French industrial partnership.
