Speaker Page : Eleventh Legislature 2021-2026:
Address of Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Rachid Talbi El Alami, on Conclusion of First Session of the 2023-2024 Legislative Year
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Compassionate
Esteemed Ministers,
Honorable colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,
In accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and the ones outlined in the Rules of Procedure of the House, we conclude today the proceedings of the first session of the 2023-2024 Legislative Year, thus concluding the first half of the 2021-2026 Legislative Term. This period was rich in production at the level of the legislative institution with regard to its interaction with the matters that enriched the development process and the political, economic, human rights, cultural, and environmental achievements of our country under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may Allah glorify him, embodying his prudent vision as he leads Morocco towards further progress and gives democracy its dimensions and its economic, social, and humanitarian substance.
Despite the international contexts and the repercussions of the geopolitical tensions and climate change that have burdened the economies of the majority of countries, our country has shown strong resilience in the face of these repercussions, as can be seen in the economic progress it has achieved, the infrastructure and structuring projects it builds, and primarily through the efficient, effective, and rapid implementation of the Social State in all its dimensions, in application of the Royal vision and directives that put the human element at the heart of development.
The impact and echo of this progress are not limited to the domestic level. On the opposite, it has geopolitical dimensions reflected in the reinforcement of the positioning of our country as an emerging power that influences international relations and enjoys esteem and respect.
It is only natural that the House figures at the heart of these national dynamics through assuming its responsibilities and exercising its constitutional prerogatives, referring in this to the philosophy of rule of His Majesty, may Allah glorify him, and his directives included in the various Royal speeches and messages.
In this respect, we all recall with great esteem and ample gratitude the tenor of the Royal message addressed by His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may Allah glorify him, to the participants in the National Symposium organized by the Parliament on January 17, 2024, under the high patronage of His Majesty, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the first elected Parliament in Morocco in 1963.
This Royal message formed a roadmap and a reference document that inspires us in ameliorating our proceedings, assuming our responsibilities with regard to entrenching our democratic institutional edifice, upgrading the quality of elites, and prioritizing the higher interests of the nation and citizens. In this respect, and in application of the Royal directives, we were keen at the Board of the House of Representatives, and with the Chairpersons of the Parliamentary Groups and Caucus, to initiate the drafting of the Parliamentary Code of Conduct for it to meet the expectations of His Majesty, may Allah glorify him, in terms of pursuing the moralization of parliamentary practice, prioritizing the public good, and rendering it one of the highest codes of conduct adopted in national Parliaments and so it receives positive feedback from the public opinion.
The new provisions aim to regulate several practices and cases by prioritizing the commitment to serving the public interest, being a model in conduct and political practice, and fulfilling duties through active and productive presence.
This will undoubtedly contribute to promoting the values of democracy, entrenching the Rule of Law, consolidating the culture of dialogue, and reinforcing trust in institutions, as confirmed by His Majesty.
On another note, following the Royal directives, we have created a Work Group for African Affairs out of consideration and esteem for the top position that our African continent occupies amongst the priorities of the Kingdom's foreign policy, as His Majesty confirmed in his message.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I want to seize the opportunity of concluding this Session to shed light on some of the highlights of the House’s proceedings during the first half of the 11th Legislative Term, as tradition dictates. Concerning the exercise of the control prerogative through the questions addressed to the Government, I would like to commend the optimal exploitation of this mechanism by the various components of the House, as reflected in the nature of the question and their focus on timely questions and sectors that attract the attention of the national public opinion. I would, of course, also like to laud the interaction of the Government with these questions.
In figures, the plenary sittings during which the Head of Government responds to the questions of the House members reached during the first half of the Legislative Term 12 sittings, during which the Head of Government responded to 60 questions related to general policies in the areas of social protection, investment, health, education, culture, the economic and political empowerment of women, and the situation of the national economy amidst the global context, as well as other questions that attracted more attention from the public opinion, the Government, and the other institutions.
In the same regard, the number of weekly plenary sittings devoted to questions by the Representatives to the Government members amounted to 62 sittings, during which the Government responded to 1849 questions. In this respect, I would like to clarify that the scheduling of oral questions during the weekly constitutional sitting is bound by the factors of time and quota, which renders the adoption of the criteria of responses as an indicator to assess performance a method that does not go in line with the objectivity criteria as the House members addressed more than 9,000 questions to the Government. Regarding written questions, the Government responded to 10,292 written questions out of 14,640 addressed to it, a percentage of 70%.
Considering this positive interaction between the Legislative and the Executive, our collective ambition remains to build on this progress to achieve the highest possible rate of exchange with the questions of the House.
On another aspect, we must approach Government control by questions through a logic of yield, their focus on timely questions, and the degree to which the debate within the House contributes to enriching the public debate and making it constructive, productive, and pedagogical. In this regard, we must recall what His Majesty, may Allah glorify him, asserted in his message on the occasion of the 60th of the Moroccan Parliament: “We must affirm the decisive role the Parliament must assume in promoting the values of democracy, entrenching the Rule of Law, reinforcing the culture of participation and dialogue, and consolidating trust in the elected institution.” [Here ends the Royal citation]
Therefore, we must all seek the value, quality, level, content, and yield of debate and its impact on society.
Ladies and gentlemen,
It would be unfair to narrow control to the questions addressed to the Government. The Standing Committees have also been a platform for interaction between the House members and the Government on timely questions requiring management through dialogue.
During the first half of the Legislative Term, these Committees discussed 366 themes that were the subject of 781 requests presented by the Parliamentary Groups and Caucus. Only during the 2023-2024 October Session, the Standing Committees held 32 meetings to discuss 53 themes.
The questions of water and its management amidst a context of drought, roads, the repercussions of the earthquake that struck several regions of our country on September 8, 2023, education, schooling, training, external relations, food security, agriculture, and the moralization of public life were all questions that the Standing Committees discussed as they exercised their control prerogative, in addition to the meetings they held within the scope of legislation, which amounted to 385 during the first half of the Legislative Term.
This significant pace in the Committee's proceedings reflects the keenness of the Legislative and the Executive to research solutions to the questions being debated after collecting information on the context and the factors behind them. The collective aspiration within the House, both in terms of Majority and Opposition, and the Government and public institutions, is to find solutions to problems and make each party realize its responsibilities and duties in order to make the public performance accessible to all, the public services accessible in a transparent manner with the required quality, the public policies productive of positive impact of citizens' life, and the public spending productive of yield, transformation, and progress.
This is because of my conviction that regardless of our different approaches, visions, or political backgrounds, we all find common ground in the noble higher goal of serving the nation and its citizens. Those are the challenges that His Majesty, may Allah glorify him, called us upon to address when he urged us to "prioritize the higher interests of the nation and citizens over partisan biddings."
In the same control horizon that aims to diagnose the shortcomings and irregularities that may characterize public action, the exploratory missions conducted by the Standing Committees are an efficient, flexible, and rapid mechanism to investigate the management of public institutions, services, and performances, and elaborating reports and recommendations thereon for amelioration.
In this regard, the Board of the House of Representatives approved ten exploratory missions during the first half of the Legislative Term. These missions covered timely matters such as the distribution and marketing networks of agricultural products, the situation of the Oum Errabiâ river estuary, and the decrease in its flow rate. The House discussed the reports of these two missions in two plenary sittings.
In their exploratory missions, the Standing Committees also covered the questions of quarries, summer camps, legal medicine, highways, the situation of university campuses, and the conditions of reception of the Moroccan community abroad. As these questions that the exploratory missions focus on are of an essential and timely nature, I reaffirm the imperative that they should be conducted in a way that combines precise information and data with the rapid elaboration of reports and the adoption of the criteria of synthesis in their drafting, efficiency in the management of parliamentary time, the respect of the deadlines of each mission, and rendering recommendations more precise.
The ultimate goal is to conduct the maximum number of exploratory missions and discuss them with the Executive to remedy the irregularities. It is not a matter of evaluation or fact-finding committees that have their constitutional, regulatory, and procedural rules, but a case of a faster mechanism that uses lighter procedures but can at the same time bear great results if we manage to perform it according to the required regulations and quality, and especially if we insist on following up the implementation of the recommendations in which they culminate.
Honorable colleagues,
Under the provisions of the Constitution and in order to implement cooperation and complementarity between powers, we were keen to activate relations with the other constitutional institutions and governance bodies out of the conviction of the value of their reports and opinions.
Being keen to interact with institutions in a way that produces conclusions and recommendations that contribute to ameliorating public performance, we regularly referred to the documents we received from these institutions, and we have implemented adequate procedures in their regard.
Allow me in this respect to raise four observations regarding the importance of these reports and consultative opinions:
1) First, they allow us to be informed of the achievements of each institution through its report;
2) Second, they enable us to put our hand on the convergence and divergence of opinions when it is the case of a report or consultative opinion that concerns the activity, performance, or running of a public service;
3) Third, their discussion is an opportunity to reach conclusions and recommendations in which converge the convictions and efforts of the various institutions, in a way that contributes to implementing further governance in the public service.
4) Fourth, they are beneficial to the members of the House of Representatives as they are an official source of information and data that we utilize in exercising our control and legislative missions. This dialogue and communication between institutions is undoubtedly an essential contribution to establishing authentic and deep-rooted institutional traditions that distance our institutional model.
Therefore, we must utilize these reports optimally and give them their appropriate value regardless of our agreement or disagreement with some of their contents, because their data remains official
Regarding the evaluation of public policies, the components of the House agreed on four public policies to be evaluated during the 11th Legislative Term, in addition to the evaluation of the conditions and circumstances of implementation of Law 103-13 on combatting violence against women.
In accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, we discussed during two plenary sittings two reports regarding the evaluation of the 2018-2021 National Administration Reform Plan and the water policy, while the Thematic Group in charge of evaluating the implementation of Law 103-13 has finished its hearing sessions and data collection and will initiate the elaboration of its report ahead of its discussion during the next legislative session. It should be recalled that this evaluation, the first of its kind, coincides with the orders of the Commander of Faithful, His Majesty King Mohammed VI, to review the Family Code and the formation of the committee in charge of revising the Code. The said committee has ended the hearing sessions to all the components of society, including political parties, and will deliberate on the report and the suggestions that it will submit to His Majesty before referring the draft Code to the Parliament.
We will, of course, be mobilized to accelerate the discussion and examination of the draft Code, mainly as it concerns the Moroccan family to which His Majesty grants peculiar attention and solicitude and is mindful of its happiness, equilibrium, stability, and reinforcement.
On another note, whether it is the matter of administration reform, water policy, combatting illiteracy, or sports, we are addressing timely and critical questions, which grants their evaluation a national status with internal and external dimensions. Whether it regards our food and water security, the governance of our administration, or the radiance of our national sports, it is ultimately a matter of our country’s progress, ability, attractiveness, and regional and international positioning.
In parallel with that, and as part of following the debate on timely national and international strategic questions, the Interim Thematic Group on Artificial Intelligence and the Interim Thematic Group on Energy Transition will initiate their proceedings to elaborate a proactive and futuristic parliamentary approach to these two themes. Besides, the Interim Thematic Group on Equality and Parity will initiate its proceedings to elaborate suggestions and recommendations concerning women in interaction with the priorities of the societal context.
Concerning the evaluation of public policies, to which we gave strong impetus during this Legislative Term, the exploratory missions, or discussion of the reports of constitutional institutions and governance bodies, the recommendations on which we agree with the Executive must have the aspired impact on society and the positive effect by ameliorating the public policies and interventions and enhancing their productivity.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Concerning legislation, I must reaffirm the importance of the legislative initiatives of the House members, which are parliamentary bills. These initiatives emanate from the daily interaction of Representatives with society and its components and their communication with citizens and professional bodies. In this regard, the House adopted six parliamentary bills during the first half of this Legislative Term, and we aspire to give new impetus to examining parliamentary bills through the relevant provisions that will be included in the new Rules of Procedure after its adoption.
On the other hand, we should not neglect the contribution of the House members in enriching the Government bills they adopt, particularly the Finance Acts. In this respect, the amendments proposed by the House amounted to 764. At the same time, the Government approved 105, which reflects, on the one hand, the cooperation between the House and the Government and, on the other, the value of the amendments proposed and the parliamentary input in legislation, just as the latter is reflected in the amendments proposed to ordinary Government bills.
Although we must not limit legislative production to quantity, we must recall that the House adopted 111 Government bills and six parliamentary bills during the first half of the Legislative Term, 18 of which were adopted during the 2023-2024 October Session. The necessary remains the nature and dimensions of the adopted texts. In this respect, 30 texts are constitutive ones that cover social sectors such as health, social aid, justice, investment, agriculture, and finance, with all their impact on legislatively regulating and organizing the centralized and territorial interventions of the State and the localization of services and investments. You are all aware of the utmost contribution of all these bills in modernizing public interventions, guaranteeing their efficiency, regulating solidarity, achieving social justice and equity, attracting and facilitating investments, entrenching public service governance, and securing rights for all.
Honorable colleagues,
The assumption of our internal responsibilities did not prevent us from pursuing our influential, vigilant, and responsible presence on the external relations front and parliamentary diplomacy. Both at the bilateral and multilateral levels, we have pursued our prominent presence in the various geopolitical regions in the world, invoking, as instructed by His Majesty, may Allah glorify him, the Moroccan diplomatic doctrine which bases His Majesty established, and committing to its rules and pillars.
In a world of changing alliances that tends more towards fragmentation given new factors and where national egoisms flourish, we were keen, after the institutionalization of the national representations within the multilateral parliamentary organizations and the parliamentary groups, to take part in the international, regional, and continental conferences and meetings.
In parallel with that, our country hosted several parliamentary meetings of utmost importance, given the qualitative and numerical participation they witnessed and the reference documents they produced. For instance, I would like to recall the Parliamentary conference on interfaith dialogue that took place under high Royal patronage in Marrakesh in June 2023 and which culminated in an essential declaration upon deep discussions and debates between parliamentarians, representatives of religions, and academics on the importance of coexistence in a context where some parties try to put a religious character on political and geopolitical questions and conflicts, and where intolerance tendencies flourish.
The same city hosted in 2022 the African Parliamentary Day on the Open Government Partnership Initiative and the openness of Parliaments, which in turn culminated in a crucial African declaration.
As we reiterate our pride in the content of the Royal message on the 60th anniversary of the first elected Moroccan Parliament regarding the dynamism of parliamentary diplomacy, we underscore that the message encourages us to have further impactful and qualitative mobilization and participation in parliamentary diplomacy to defend the interests and causes of our country, at the forefront of which is our territorial integrity, and to introduce the reforms conducted by our country based on its achievements in terms of international positioning and deserved esteem, as well the relations established on partnership, sincerity, loyalty, and values, and thanks to the vision and leadership of His Majesty.
Our African, Arab, and Islamic depth, Euro-Mediterranean space, Latin American horizon, and partnership with the Americas and Asia will remain at the center of our action on the external relations front.
Ladies and gentlemen,
To conclude, I would like to underscore that the record from which I cited headlines would not have been achieved without the engagement of everyone and the mobilization of all the components and organs of the House, knowing that our collective ambition remains higher than that, as it consists of ameliorating representative institutional democracy to the level aspired by His Majesty the King for it, capitalizing on the significant maturity parliamentary action has reached, as included in the Royal message, and building on that in our pursuit of entrenching our unique democratic and institutional model.
As we aspire to reinforce the accelerating and solid Moroccan ascension, we must intensify our collective mobilization to capitalize on achievements and gains and build on our country's renaissance toward broader progress horizons.
Our territorial integrity, where our country achieved legitimate and decisive gains, whether in terms of the structural achievements in our southern provinces or the powerful international tendency to recognize the legitimacy of our cause and reject the separatist doctrine, indeed requires more vigilance, capitalization, and vivacity.
All these achievements would not have come to life without the prudence of the country's sovereign, His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may Allah glorify him, and the value of his leadership, as well as the vigilance and professionalism of the Royal Armed Forces that defend national borders and protect the land, air, and maritime national territory. To these forces, led by their Supreme Commander and Chief of General Staff of the Royal Armed Forces (FAR), we express our gratitude, recognition, and esteem.
To the agents of the Royal Gendarmerie, National Security, and Auxiliary Forces, we extend our esteem for their contribution to the protection of gains and the preservation of the security of the country and its citizens.
Allow me to conclude with you that these challenges that we work to address, the bets that we want to win, and the major projects under construction and oriented towards the future require further social cohesion and national solidarity under positive difference because major reform in Morocco, as confirmed in history, have always been achieved through a process of consensus, inclusion, and fair competition, not polarization.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I want to conclude by thanking all the persons who contributed to this record, namely the components of the House, the Government, its Head, and the Minister Delegate in Charge of Relations with the Parliament and Government Spokesperson, media who ensured coverage of our proceedings, the personnel and executives of the House, the Royal Armed Forces that protect the institution, the agents of National Security and Civil Protection, and the ones in charge of cleaning and maintenance, who facilitate the exercise of our works.
Thank you for your keen listening.