King Mohammed opens parliament's fall session
Morocco, Politics, 10/12/2002

Morocco's King Mohammed VI, accompanied by Prince Moulay Rachid and Prince Moulay Ismail, opened on Friday the fall session of the Moroccan Parliament, in accordance with Article 40 of the Moroccan Constitution.

Here follows the full text of the speech the king made on the occasion:

"Praise be to God

May God's prayers and peace be upon the Prophet, his kin and kith

Ladies and Gentlemen, Honorable Parliamentarians

The qualitative leap forward we have accomplished in democracy, through the election of the new House of Representatives that we are inaugurating today, is for Us a source of great pride that is only equaled by our deep gratefulness and sincere faithfulness to the memory of the pioneer of this democratic process, Our Venerated Father, His Majesty King Hassan II, may God rest his soul in peace.

Whole generations, present and coming, will remain forever indebted to His visionary genius and perspicacity that led Him to opt for a democratic regime. Since our enthronement, We have been keen on consolidating this system by completing the construction of the rule of law with strong and credible institutions.

We congratulate the newly-elected and re-elected representatives and particularly the ladies representatives, being convinced that the reputed earnestness, realism and integrity of Moroccan women will have a beneficial impact on the House proceedings. We aspire to a fairer and more equitable treatment of Moroccan women in all walks of national life.

We would equally like to pay tribute to Our faithful subjects in the Southern provinces and to their representatives in the parliament. Their massive participation in the polling, with a record voter turnout of 64% that exceeds the national average, and the election of their representatives reflect both their faith in the democracy for which we opted as the adequate way for the management of their regional affairs, and their attachment to the homeland in unity, freedom and dignity.

We likewise praise the sense of duty displayed by all citizens, organizations and authorities that mobilized to achieve this democratic breakthrough, and on top of them the executives of the ministries of the interior and of justice as well as magistrates.

While praising this new stride in the democratic process to which we have secured all legal and political guarantees, we wonder: Was the objective to have a House of Representatives that genuinely represents all political groups? Surely no! For democracy is not an end per se but rather an instrument to promote popular participation in the management of public affairs and to give rise to mobilization for development.

The democracy that we seek to achieve will not reach its full maturity until we lower the structural obstacles standing on its way, namely illiteracy and poverty, and at the same time strengthen the role of political parties Ðby adopting a law thereon - and endeavoring to moralize public life.

Consequently, economic and socio-cultural stakes are by far more arduous than the challenges inherent to the construction of the institutional edifice in which we have, nonetheless, accomplished important gains and that we intend to consolidate, renovate and rationalize even further more.

Rehabilitating the parliamentary institution, as we wish it, requires from you sustained and painstaking action, not only to fulfill, at the parliament, the constitutional mission assigned to you, but also to adhere strictly to an approach of proximity, in order to reach the deep Morocco and to be heedful to your co-citizens.

Consequently, you will be able to echo the nation's concerns while helping citizens have a realistic idea of what is possible to achieve. This is the path to follow if you are to fulfill your role of relay between the people and the executive branch. Thus, beyond supporting the government in the somehow narrow framework of parliament and ministries, the action of the majority will sparkle in depth on all the society components.

Likewise, it is the role of any constructive opposition to serve as a proposal force and to echo, in a realistic and rational way, social aspirations. In the parliamentary practice, it should show creativity and innovation and avoid hollow overbidding and sterile controversies that will not give a job to the unemployed, dispense education to the illiterate, restore the right of victims of injustice, nor preserve the dignity of the destitute.

Therefore, it is incumbent upon you to lend to your action all the needed earnestness and rigor and learn lessons from the electoral campaign that helped you gauge the expectations of citizens. They want concrete solutions to real and essential problems that lie in the heart of each citizen's concern, instead of proclaiming each issue as a priority. There are, indeed, four priorities: productive employment, economic development, useful education and decent housing.

Those are the genuine national concerns and urgent priorities on which you should focus most of your efforts.

Employment is the top concern of the Moroccan family. It is, actually, a cure to social ailments, particularly poverty and edging out, that can be eradicated only through an effecting and acting social solidarity, founded on partnership between public authorities, local communities, the private sector and the civil society.

However, we can provide jobs to the large layers of our youth only through achieving the necessary economic development, which remains dependent on spurring investment, and investment, and still investment. I will resolutely continue to endeavor to dismantle hindrances to investments until Morocco becomes a large workshop of production, generator of wealth.

Nevertheless, the materialization of this objective goes through abiding by the rules of good governance of public affairs, rapid and in-depth implementation of administrative, judiciary, fiscal and financial reforms, rural development and enhancement of enterprises' competitiveness Ðby putting emphasis on the sectors where we have assets and where we have an advantage in terms of competitiveness and of productivity.

Moreover, We emphasize the need to adopt an organic law related to strikes, as well as a modern labor code, allowing the investor and the worker to be aware in advance of their respective rights and duties, within the frame of a global social contract of solidarity.

The economic take-off and the creation of productive jobs can be made possible only through the optimal implementation of the reform of the educational and training system, because despite the strides covered in the field, the most difficult task is yet to be carried out, namely the qualitative reform of training, the eradication of illiteracy, while starting with courage the quest of new financial resources.

Furthermore, we should favor the flourishing of the different components of the national culture, mainly through backing the Royal Institute of the Amazigh Culture, while seeing to the preservation of Morocco's Muslim identity, to its attachment to the unity of its Malekite rite, and this in total openness onto modernity with a view to building the society of knowledge and of communication.

Likewise, We can preserve the citizens' dignity only through securing them a decent housing and through speeding up the implementation of the national program of struggle against unhealthy housing and eradicating shantytowns. These constitute, indeed, a threat to the cohesion and balance of the social fabric and a source of frustration, of exclusion, of deviation and of extremism.

The carrying out of these priority actions is certainly a painstaking task, but we have no other choice than general mobilization to take up this challenge, consolidate trust in the Morocco of today and of tomorrow and restore hope to the poor social layers amongst our faithful people.

However, it is up to us, above all, to fructify to the maximum the internationally recognized democratic radiance of Morocco to definitively shelve the artificial conflict over our territorial integrity which remains our sacred cause.

Moreover, it is up to us to comfort the security and stability that our country enjoys within a democratic system that can produce its effect fully only within the context of a State, strong by the preeminence of the law.

It is the duty of each and everyone to assess the scope of the parliamentary and governmental responsibilities and to show his attachment to the virtues of constructive dialogue, to unanimity on the constant values and the sacred institutions and to consensus on the major dossiers of the nation.

For the rest, the law of the democratic majority should prevail, for by sticking excessively to consensus, we end up by making it void of its substance and depriving it of its raison d'�tre, mentioning it as a pretext to shirk the duty to make a decision.

What is at stake in Morocco, today as in the future, is not the choice among political currents --regardless of their sensibilities. The stake is rather to decide between democracy and commitment, on the one hand, and anarchy, muddle and defeatism, on the other; between modernity and openness, on the one hand, and fanaticism, isolation and ostracism, on the other. In one word, this is truly a struggle between progress and regression in a world where the challenges and conflicts are multiplying and where a genuine race against the clock unfolds, making what is possible today, impossible tomorrow. Such are the true stakes. Morocco must win them.

We implore God, the Most High, to grant us inspiration, guide our steps on the right path, crown our efforts with success, reinforce our will and bestow on us his help and assistance.

"Say: O My Lord, let my entry by the gate of truth and likewise my exit by the gate of truth, and grant me from thy presence and authority to aid me." Verily God's word is true.

Wassalamou Alaikoum wa Ramhamtoullahi wa Barakatouh."

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