Moroccan nationals top the list of foreigners naturalized by European Union countries in 2017. 67, 900 Moroccan nationals were naturalized in 2017, according to data provided Wednesday by Eurostat. In 2017, 33,4% of the naturalized Moroccans are settled down in Italy, 25.7% in Spain, 24.6% in France and 13.6% of them live in Belgium, the same source indicated. While Moroccans are the ones to benefit the most from naturalization in the European Union, Albanians are ranked second, followed by
The European Commission has commended Morocco’s actions in strengthening control of its border, promising to grant Rabat €110 million to help the country manage migration flows.
Argentine professional footballer Lionel Messi, who captains both Spanish club Barcelona and the Argentina national team, will not play against the Atlas Lions in March. According to Argentinian sports outlet TyC Sports, the Barcelona striker will, reportedly, join the Argentina national football team for its friendly with Venezuela on March the 22nd and will go back to Madrid before the team’s match with Morocco. Quoted by AS, TyC Sports indicates that Lionel Messi «will be
Moroccan military is among the strongest military powers in North Africa, according to the Military Strength Ranking. The latter indicates that the Kingdom relies on a mix of old and new equipment and employs several hundred thousand active and reserve personnel on call.
Spanish consulates in Morocco issued 220,929 visas last year, a particularly significant increase compared to 2017. According to data relayed by Spanish news agency EFE, Morocco was the third country in the world to receive Spanish visas, after Russia and China in 2018. With the exception of public holidays and weekends, Spanish consulates issued an average of 1,000 visas per day. In Morocco, Spain and France are the two countries that have granted the most Schengen visas : In 2017, France
In 2017, Morocco was one of the African countries that seized the biggest amounts of Cannabis resin, a drug that is largly produced in the country, according to the UN International Narcotics Control Board.
Brahim Ghali is planning to get «reelected» as leader of the Polisario. The committee in charge of preparing for the Front’s upcoming congress is composed of influential members from Ghali’s tribe, Rguibates.
The UN envoy for Western Sahara Horst Köhler is to chair the second Western Sahara round-table in the second half of March, bringing Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the Polisario together in Geneva, Switzerland. The announcement was made by the UN Secretary-General’s Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, during a press briefing held Tuesday, March the 5th. Speaking to reporters, Dujarric said that «the Personal Envoy, Mr. [Horst] Köhler, has plans to convene a
Ajax Amsterdam’s Moroccan international player Hakim Ziyech has contributed significantly to his team’s victory, scoring a goal against Real Madrid. In a Champions League match, held Wednesday, Ziyech scored for Ajax seven minutes after the start of the game. The other three goals that secured Ajax’s victory were scored by David Neres, Dusan Tadic and Lasse Schone. Madrid’s goal was scored by Marco Asensio 70 minutes after the start of the match.
The Amsterdam police are currently looking for a 30-year-old Moroccan national who has scammed several Moroccan families in the Netherlands, said Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws on Tuesday. The suspect has presented himself as a successful businessman and as an ideal husband to the daughters of these families. Using several names, the man asked for money to host engagement parties or for his business, scamming several people, the same source said. The Dutch police called the scammed