France’s Minister of Culture Rachida Dati said that “there has never been any doubt about the Moroccan status of the Sahara,” in an interview on Saturday with Paul Mamere, a journalist with Down Syndrome who had graduated from the Moroccan School of Journalism ISIC.
In the interview aired after her first speech on Saturday in Paris following her nomination as Minister of Culture last week after the resignation of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, Dati, who is French-Moroccan, suggested that dialogue is “the key” to ending the current “cold ties” between Morocco and France.
Relations cannot come to an end, she asserted, because Morocco is an “historic ally and friend” of France, and the two countries have a “common” destiny.
The minister said she supports and nurtures French-Moroccan relations and encourages young people in both countries to follow in her footsteps.
Dati, a member of the right-wing “Les Republicains” (LR) party, has been a firm advocate of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Moroccan Sahara, a view she expressed in May 2023 during a visit to Morocco with LR President Éric Ciotti.