«the giant» Atmoun, the spies in Warsaw, the gifts to Panzeri. The real game of Morocco – Corriere.it

From the windows you can see Stalin’s cake, the imposing Palace of Culture halfway between art deco and socialist realism that the Poles received as a gift from the hated Soviet leader and which today is a symbol of Warsaw. The Moroccan embassy is located five kilometers further south, in the green residential area of ​​Mokotw, modern apartment blocks, restaurants and quiet alleys on the left bank of the Vistula. An ideal venue for confidential exchanges and Cold War spy intrigues. The money laundering and corruption network that stretched from Rabat and Doha to Brussels found a nerve center here. The one who appears in the first reconstructions among the Qatargate maneuverers arrives in 2019. the new ambassador of His Majesty Muhammad VI, Abderrahim Atmoun.

High profile, long political navigation and international experience with years of close relations on the Rabat-Paris-Brussels route. Constantly on the rise. Born in 1955 in the mining town of Khouribga, former regional governor and parliamentarian with the pro-monarchist party Authenticity and Modernity, he participates in the work of the Foreign, National Defense and Islamic Affairs Commission; since 2009 he has led the Friendship Group between the Moroccan and French Senates; since 2011 he has chaired the Morocco-EU joint parliamentary committee which deals with the economy, bilateral relations, human rights and the fight against terrorism: in this capacity in 2017 he collaborated with Antonio Panzeri, then MEP with the S&D and president of the Commission of the European Parliament for economic and monetary. He lived in France for a long time and in 2011 became the first Moroccan politician to receive the Legion of Honour, the highest honor bestowed by the Republic, President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In 2019 Muhammad VI wants him ambassador in Warsaw, charged with making Poland the Kingdom’s diplomatic and economic platform for the whole of Central and Eastern Europe. On the other side of the Mediterranean, Morocco offers itself as a gateway to Africa for Polish companies. Atmoun pushes cooperation at all levels and in 2021 after a weaving of months it manages to take an entrepreneurial delegation away not only in Casablanca but also in Dakhla and Laayoune. These are two cities on the Atlantic coast of Western Sahara, the territory claimed by the Polisario Front which in 1976, a year after the end of Spanish colonial rule, proclaimed independence from Morocco and founded the Arab Democratic Republic of the Sahrawi, an indomitable Arab-Berber tribal people supported by Algeria. Land in fact 80% annexed by Rabat and rich in phosphates, very precious from agriculture to the food industry: after China and the United States, Morocco is the third largest producer in the world. The largest deposit on the planet? Khouribga, the birthplace of Atmoun.

The struggle of the persecuted Sahrawi people among the most delicate international dossiers and cause of divisions among the 27 EU states, with Northern Europe lined up alongside the Front and countries like France and Spain more conciliatory with Morocco. For Spain – which during the pandemic nevertheless welcomed and treated the Covid-sick leader of the Polisario Front – there is also the Ceuta and Melilla front, the fortified exclaves that migrants dream of reaching before being stopped by the excessive use of force by Moroccan agents, UN definition. Last summer, Madrid and Algiers clashed over Western Sahara, with repercussions on Algerian gas prices, after the turn of Pedro Snchez’s government in favor of the Kingdom’s latest offer to the Sahrawis: autonomy, not full sovereignty. The lobbying offensive and the Moroccan corruption maneuvers that emerged with the Qatargate aimed precisely at conditioning the historically ambiguous position of Europe which would actually have strong economic levers with both parties.

Thus the wind from the Sahara reaches the rooms in Warsaw from which Atmoun can turn contacts to the secret services and where the intelligence plots cross with the visits of Panzeri & Co. The investigation papers cite gifts for the Italian friend from Morocco, gifts that would have been transported by Panzeri’s wife and daughter, both currently under arrest on a European mandate. In a telephone conversation quoted by press sources, husband and wife are said to be talking about a credit card at their disposal in the name of the giant, Atmoun.

A system that intercepts the interests of the capitals, feeds on their differences to pursue strategic objectives and reveals new ramifications every day. Brussels is the first supplier of humanitarian aid to the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria and supports their struggle for self-determination. In fact, however, it has never taken an active role in seeking a resolution to the conflict and maintains strong ties with Morocco: the Association Agreement of 2000, followed by partnerships and agreements that have made the North African country the main recipient of financial support EU within the neighborhood programmes. Since 2006, the Union has participated with over 50 countries and institutions in the Rabat Process on migration and development. In 2021 the European Court of Justice had to intervene by annulling two clauses of the 2019 Agreement on EU-Morocco fishing rights which included the waters pertaining to Western Sahara: according to the judges, the text sanctioned the right of exploitation of an occupying state in an internationally recognized non-autonomous territory. Another issue of greatest interest to Rabat is the Muslim cult in Belgium – in the past Atmoun had also managed the expatriate dossier.

In recent years, recognition has increased in Europe of the real efforts of the monarchy of the ambitious Muhammad VI, closely linked to Washington and the Persian Gulf states, to improve its human rights standards despite persistent violations of the freedom of the press and expression. Between individual initiatives and more or less explicit pushes to obtain gradual shifts in tone and in the general approach to bilateral relations, the shadow of suspicion lengthens, in this story the most serious wound.
In a 2019 joint declaration, the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco say they are united not only in interests deriving from geography and history, but in the shared values ​​that both have chosen to subscribe to. From mere neighbors, the EU and Morocco have become authentic partners in a common vision for the future of the Mediterranean and beyond.