Morocco

Morocco is a constitutional monarchy of around 37 million people (2024) in North Africa, led by King Mohammed VI since 1999 and governed under the constitution reformed in 2011. Bound to the Union by an Association Agreement signed in 1996 and by an Advanced Status since 2008, it is one of the EU's closest southern neighbours, and the EU is its first trading partner.

Today the partnership spans trade, energy, investment and migration, and Brussels and Rabat are working towards a broader strategic partnership. Migration remains its most sensitive test: the mass crossings into Ceuta in summer 2026, which cost dozens of lives, showed how pressure on a single external frontier quickly becomes a question for all of Europe — and how strong the temptation is to answer it with internal border checks.

Morocco's neighbourhood speaks to a conviction the European Democrats hold firm: that Europe must protect its external borders together — with shared resources and binding solidarity between member states — rather than rebuild borders between Europeans, keeping freedom of movement within Schengen intact.