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EU–Morocco Relations: How Advanced is the ‘Advanced Status’?

On 13 October 2008, the EU and the Kingdom of Morocco adopted a ‘Joint Document on the Strengthening of Bilateral Relations/Advanced Status’, which responded to Morocco’s long-standing aspiration of establishing with the EU a relationship ‘deeper than association even if . . . it stops short of full accession’ – the latter having been ruled out by the European Council in 1987. This document, agreed by an ad hoc working group within the Association Council, lists a series of ‘actions constituting an ambitious road map for developing EU–Morocco bilateral relations towards an advanced status’. According to this working group, ‘the Advanced Status should translate into a reinforcement of political cooperation between Morocco and the EU in order to better take into consideration their respective strategic priorities, and into a progressive integration of Morocco in the EU’s common market, in particular with an appropriate financial support commensurate with the scope and the ambition of this new development’. So through the Advanced Status the EU seemed to reward Morocco for its reforms in the last ten years and in particular in the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). It also passed to other Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs) the message that compliance with engagements taken in the framework of ENP Action Plans pays back in terms of deeper integration into the EU political and economic space (at the public presentation of the Joint Document, some of the speakers even talked about the ‘everything but the institutions’ model). The actions provided for in this document cover the political, economic, financial, social and human dimensions, as well as the participation of Morocco in certain Community agencies and programmes. The ‘political and strategic dialogue’ is the field where the Joint Document is more innovative in comparison to the existing framework of EU–Moroccan relations. It provides for the holding of ad hoc summits between leaders of both parties, including informal meetings of ministers of foreign affairs. It also envisages ad hoc sectoral meetings with Moroccan