the great Maghreb

The Great Maghreb is not a utopia, but a distant project, a conditional reality and a long march.

The European Union, and well before, the United States of America, have always campaigned for the construction of this great socio-economic group in North Africa. They see it as a coherent project, which, sooner or later, will be binding on all governments in the region, in the best interest of their peoples. The agriculture of Morocco and its phosphates, the gas and the oil of Algeria and Libya, the tourism and the economy of services of Tunisia, plead for a union, which would make, of these States, united, with what would join Mauritania, a Maghreb whose economic power would no longer be demonstrated.

The Greater Maghreb would be a common market of more than 90 million consumers, the first beneficiaries of which would be, first, the countries that make it up. It is estimated that the establishment of the Maghreb Union, would result for the region, by an increase of two growth points. The World Bank estimates that Maghreb construction could increase real GDP per capita in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia by 34, 27 and 24%, respectively, over ten years.

One may wonder why this Union is not started. Why logic does not take precedence over political motives, why the general interest does not take precedence over particular interests. If everyone is aware of the possibilities and benefits of the Greater Maghreb, everyone is also aware that there are still some gray areas and prerequisites. With the growing awareness of the different components of the peoples of North Africa, their identity and their respective history, we must above all talk about the Arab Maghreb, but the Union of the Maghreb. The populations of the Maghreb are Arabs, Berbers, Kabyles and Moors of Beïdanes origin or Harratins. The Union des populations can not be built on the hegemony of one of its components.

The prerequisites are not lacking. Morocco and Algeria should normalize their relations, and there is some hope that political will in this direction is gaining momentum. It will be necessary to settle the problem of the Sahara by the establishment of the statute of autonomy proposed by Morocco, and to proceed with the reopening of the borders between Morocco and Algeria. The coming to power of so-called "moderate Islamic" parties in countries like Tunisia or Morocco can not be a drag on this march towards the Union. The character, whether Islamic or not, of men in business, can not fundamentally change the deal: economic constraints, geopolitical and globalization, impose pragmatism and far exceed religious references. If the Maghreb is the only region in the world that does not know regional construction, this construction can not be put in place without first clearing the various liabilities that undermine inter-community relations, and only in stages.

The economy is generally the locomotive of the rapprochement of peoples and regional construction. A major project, industrial, commercial or infrastructure, Maghreb, can and must be one of the first steps towards this Great Maghreb that all the people call all their wishes. It is, step by step, project by project, that we can play the map of economic integration, beyond political or ethnic divisions.