Address of Speaker of House of Representatives Habib El Malki at Closure of First Legislative Session of Fifth Legislative Year of Tenth Legislature
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful, and Prayer and Peace be upon his Noble Messenger and His Family and Companions
Dear Ministers,
Dear Deputies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, we conclude today the works of the first legislative session of the fifth legislative year of the tenth legislature at the level of plenary sittings as our parliamentary system requires the continuance of the activities of the standing committees over the course of the year, which is one of the essential positive marks of our institutional democracy.
The closure of this session takes place amidst a unique national context, as it is not only marked by the propagation of the pandemic from which humanity has been suffering for over a year now and which affects all the sides of life, but is also marked by several events, and several achievements and successes realized by our country under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God glorify him. We have the utmost pride in that the House of Representatives, along with other authorities and institutions, has been engaged in this national dynamic by implementing the directives and instructions of His Majesty the King, including the ones set out in the speech His Majesty addressed to the nation on the occasion of opening the current legislative year, which constructs one of the references to our action.
Regardless of the contexts, challenges, or the sacrifices required from us, the question of our territorial integrity was, and will always remain at the top of our interests, actions, and concerns. The decisive, professional, resolute, and pacific intervention of the Royal Armed Forces on November 13th, 2020, to put an end to the chaos caused by criminal groups by blocking the road at the Guergarate border crossing in the far-southern regions of Morocco and by disrupting the movement on an international road that leads to the other African countries, was a decisive and crucial step in dealing with unlawful behaviors.
The Royal Armed Forces behaved within legitimacy and peacefully, but also with decisiveness and rigor, supported by the legitimacy of the Moroccan position, the strong national mobilization, and the unified national position around His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God glorify him. Hence, we would like to pay all due respect, consideration, and veneration to these Forces and their Commander-in-Chief, His Majesty the King. As opposed to what the foes of our territorial integrity falsely believed, the international, African, and regional positions commanded the measures taken by our country as they were built upon legitimacy and sought to establish the law. Contrary to their errant positions, which have become isolated on the international level, the United States of America made a clear position on December 10th, 2020, declaring that the Moroccan retrieved southern provinces are an integral part of the Moroccan territory, while other countries opened their consulates in Laayoune and Dakhla, in consolidation of the Moroccan legitimacy over its southern provinces.
In this respect, we, the House of Representatives, can only extend our highest respects and considerations for the position of the United States of America, the friendly country and ally to the Kingdom of Morocco, and the positions of our brotherly and friendly countries in the different geostrategic regions of the globe, who approve of our legitimacy and support our territorial integrity.
Allow me, sisters and brothers, on this constitutional occasion, and upon this historical turning point in the history of our national cause, to remind the forgetful ones of some of the constants of the artificial conflict around our territorial integrity:
-The first constant is that it is a crucial cause, as we are not dealing with a mere conflict over borders, but with a legitimate national struggle to establish legitimacy and presence; our presence as a nation and a country with deep-rooted entity, institutions, civilization, cultural richness and diversity, and continental and international contribution to building a stable world where the sovereignty of countries prevails.
-The second constant regards the delusion growing with the parties that stand against our legitimate historical rights. The contradictions of this delusion are now clear, and it is fading away, and the separatist agenda is on its way into oblivion and demise. First, thanks to the commitment of our sisters and brothers residing in the southern provinces to their Moroccanity and their participation in the advancement of the action of institutions, including the House of Representatives, and the other constitutional and elected institutions and bodies of governance, and in the management of the affairs of the country. Second, thanks to the national unity formed throughout decades between the components of this country, which is today reinforced through structural development programs implemented in the southern provinces.
On the other hand, it is absurd to think that Morocco is the only country in the world, by the end of the 20th century and the start of the 21st, whose national territory is being fragmented. Contrary to some distortions and partial readings of international practices, all the comparative cases have proven that previously occupied countries have retrieved their lands and completed their territorial integrity. Meanwhile, all attempts to separation during the last forty years, at least, have bumped into an adamant populist, official, and international objection to the fragmentation and division.
-The third constant is reflected by the economic and geostrategic positioning of our country, and it being a cornerstone of regional, continental, and international stability, and an emerging economic, political, and democratic power, and its role in averting terrorist threats and other instability causes, which have made of our country a well-respected, trusted, and indispensable international partner at the Euro-Mediterranean, African, and global levels. This credibility and trust are undoubtedly fortified with the autonomy initiative presented by our country in 2007, and considered by the international community and the influential powers in the international decision-making positions, the only credible and realistic initiative, and the basis for a possible sustainable and realistic solution to the artificial conflict around our southern provinces. On the other hand, the other parties remain prisoners of the rigid past instead of engaging in the open history dynamic to shape the future and face the actual common challenges. It is also not surprising to witness the rise of a doctrine of mediatic propaganda, the invention of illusional heroism, and lying to the public opinion among such parties, which is another striking example of diplomatic straying.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Like the rest of the world, our country struggles with the COVID-19 pandemic and its heavy economic and social repercussions and cost. In all the chapters of our struggle against this pandemic, including the period of lockdown and the required legislation and financial, economic, social, and health policies and measures, then the post-lockdown period and its requirements and financial packages and assistance to enterprises, to the national vaccination campaign launched by His Majesty the King, may God preserve him, on January 28th, there was an embodiment of the foresight and valuable and strong leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, a leadership full of human connotations and decisiveness to protect society and rights and to consolidate the values of solidarity, and of clairvoyance during the toughest context humanity has gone through in the modern era. This leadership that all the components, sectors, and institutions of the Moroccan population rally around.
Such leadership has enabled our country to make of the crisis an opportunity, of its dangers collective precautions, of the scarcity in resources practical and efficient initiatives, and of the social deficit a solidarity movement that establishes the foundations for the post-COVID Morocco amidst the global transformations that the pandemic is setting in the economy, industry, services, and relations. The comparative models and practices for managing the pandemic have shown the efficacy of Morocco's model and its success in facing the pandemic and its repercussions.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As I have mentioned on previous occasions, every social dynamic must have its resonance within the legislative institution, which is bound to interact with the needs and aspirations of society, at the levels of control, legislation, policy evaluation, parliamentary diplomacy, communication with the public opinion, and performing the representative tasks.
Therefore, our House has continued to perform its constitutional prerogatives and tasks, taking into consideration this peculiar context and interacting with the national major and central questions, and recalling the directives of His Majesty the King, may God glorify him, mainly the ones included in his speech on the opening of the current legislative session.
In this respect, and regarding control, the House has been keen to remain attentive and interactive with social questions. Two of the four sittings for questions on general policy, held by the House during this session, were devoted to the national cause and tackled two axes. The first one was the development programs in the southern provinces of the Kingdom. The second was the role of national diplomacy in preserving the territorial integrity of the Kingdom and a special sitting on November 13th, 2020, on the situation at the Guergarate border crossing. During the two sittings, the interventions and polite debate reflected the national consensus around the territorial integrity and the united mobilization behind His Majesty the King to consolidate the gains, and carried sincere patriotic messages that reiterate the determination to end the separatist delusions and projects that aim to create instability.
The questions scheduled during the rest of the weekly oral questions sittings, amounting to 13 sittings, tackled several sectoral issues relating to the pandemic and the measures taken in numerous vital sectors to prevent the dangerous impacts of the pandemic on the economic activities and social services. The mutual concern of the legislative and executive branches through scheduling and debating such issues within a constitutional framework was to immunize the various sectors and activities.
Questioning the members of the Government and the presidents and general managers of public institutions by the standing committees was an occasion for honest, constructive, and critical debate between the two branches. This debate tackled the management, outcomes, and governance of 15 sectors and culminated in conclusions and recommendations regarding improving services and performances. This debate was concluded yesterday by discussing the Public Finance Control Committee report on the Deposit and Management Fund (CDG), an institution of historical and strategic importance to achieving development in our country.
The standing committees pursued carrying out the exploratory missions assigned to them, amounting to 17 missions approved by the Board of the House. The session was also marked by the presentation and discussion of two reports of exploratory missions on the situation of some consulates of the Kingdom abroad and the situation of penitentiary institutions. A review of the activities of standing committees reflects a greater tendency towards control actions, considering the efficacy of this constitutional mechanism and its influence on the governance of public institutions and their performances.
In legislation, the record of our activities can be considered qualitative. In this respect, and in spite of the big time that is usually allocated to the discussion and vote on the finance bill (27% of the time devoted to legislation in plenary sittings (15 sittings) and 56% of the time devoted to legislation at the level of standing committees), the House has approved qualitative texts, including, for instance, a Government Bill stipulating the establishment of the Mohammed VI Investment Fund, which the King ordered as a public strategic mechanism to finance investments and implement private-public partnership, and accompany the economic and investment national dynamic and create sectoral funds to finance investments. The House also approved other laws that aim to keep up with the technological advancements and consolidate trust in financial and commercial transactions, all of which are figuring in a Government Bill on trust services in electronic transactions.
In addition to ratifying several international agreements that reinforce the relations of our country to other countries, the House has approved Government bills of utmost importance to our cultural and intellectual scene, including a Government Bill on restructuring the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco and two Government Bills on museums and the National Museums Foundation. Hence, the House has approved a total of 35 government bills during this session.
On another note, and as part of valuing the legislative initiatives of deputies, the House devoted two sittings to adopt five parliamentary bills, which raises the total of adopted texts to 40 bills. As much as we note the Government's interaction with these initiatives positively, we aspire further discussion, debate, and consensus with the executive branch concerning the huge amount of piling and urgent parliamentary bills, which are 223.
As part of the engagement of the House in implementing the directives of His Majesty the King to giving the development a social and solidarity aspects, the thematic working group in charge of the healthcare system, formed by the House, concluded its activities by preparing a report that analyzes the situation of the health sector and the health coverage system, and provides recommendations and conclusions to reform the sector at the legislative, institutional, and organizational levels.
As an incarnation of the dialectical link between our internal national causes and international relations, the House pursued its action at the level of bilateral and multilateral diplomacy through hosting several thematic meetings and participating in international conferences, many of which tackled the role of legislative institutions around the world in combatting the pandemic and its various repercussions.
On another note, the numerous contacts we made with several national parliaments and multilateral parliamentary organizations were a chance to clarify our country's positions and introduce the legitimacy of our territorial integrity cause. In this context, we have noticed a huge consideration and deep understanding of the measures taken by our country to reinstate law in the Guergarate border crossing at the far south of Morocco, expressed through the official statements and letters of these parties.
For our part, we, the House of Representatives, were keen to express our solidarity with the brotherly countries, especially those in Africa and Latin America, in this collective war against the pandemic.
In this context, allow me to affirm that fighting the pandemic, especially during the vaccination phase, has shown trends that do not align with the joint responsibilities of the international community. This crucial period in ending the pandemic is a challenge to the international conscience, the duty of humanitarian solidarity, and to all the human rights values, and we will not be satisfied, dear colleagues, with history recording that the world's wealthiest gave up on the rest of humanity during such challenging moments.
His Majesty the King, as usual, was predictive and anticipatory. In this respect, His Majesty launched, since the emergence of the pandemic, an initiative of leaders of African countries to combat COVID-19, and the Kingdom of Morocco, following the order of His Majesty, provided some African countries with medicines and equipment to combat the pandemic in its emergence.
These initiatives are part of Morocco's commitment to the humanitarian and just causes of people, including the cause of the Palestinian people, who have always found in Morocco, and during the toughest stages of their national struggle, the political, diplomatic, and financial support. History records that decisive decisions to support Palestinians were made in our country, including the founding of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation, from which emerged the Al-Quds Committee, chaired by the late His Majesty King Hassan II, may God rest his soul, and then by His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God preserve him, and the official Arab recognition of the Palestinian Liberation Organization as the only legitimate representative of Palestinians.
As His Majesty the King has already affirmed, the Moroccan position in favor of Palestinians will remain constant, and the Kingdom will pursue its continuous and full commitment to defending the rights of the Palestinian people, and this position is unwavering and built on consistency and the principle of committing to the values of justice, peace, dialogue, and supporting the said population in the challenges it has undergone, and the negotiations of its legitimate leadership to establish an independent state with Al-Quds as its capital, which holds a special position for the Kings and people of Morocco.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We may consider our works during this session another fruitful chapter of the contribution of the House of Representatives to enriching our national legislation and practicing institutional parliamentary control based on collaboration and complementarity between branches. Our collective goal is to entrench the democratic practice, consolidate the institutional construction, and pursue the reflection of the concept of comprehensive reform to help these institutions earn the trust of citizens for our country to keep its positioning as an emerging democratic and economic power under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God glorify him.
To conclude, I would like to confirm that we could not have reached such outcomes without the coordination between the legislative and executive branches, and mainly the Head of Government and the Minister of State in Charge of Human Rights and Relations with Parliament, and all the members of the Government to whom I extend my sincere thanks. I would also like to seize this opportunity to extend my thanks to the national media and the House officials for their constant mobilization and contribution to realizing these achievements.