King Mohammed VI on Friday named the members of Morocco's new government, led by Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, the first woman to head a government in the country's history.
Thirteen of the 31 ministers kept their jobs © MAP
King Mohammed VI on Friday named the members of Morocco's new government, led by Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, the first woman to head a government in the country's history.
The official MAP news agency said the king presided over the swearing-in ceremony at the royal palace in Rabat.
Thirteen of the 31 ministers kept their jobs, including Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit, who has no party affiliation.
Fouzi Lekjaa, who joined the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) this summer, becomes economy minister. He had been minister delegate for the budget since 2021, and is also president of the Moroccan football federation. PAM won the September 23 legislative elections.
The governing coalition is led by PAM, with the right-wing Istiqlal and the left-wing Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) and the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS).
Together the four parties hold 210 of the 395 seats in parliament. Seven ministers are women, including the head of government, as in the previous cabinet.
"We have an ambitious government programme, able to meet citizens' expectations," El Mansouri told state media after the ceremony.
Her government will have to tackle social and territorial inequalities, a major issue in Morocco. In late July, an unprecedented rush of young Moroccans towards the Spanish enclave of Ceuta underlined the lack of prospects facing part of the country's youth.
Restoring trust in public institutions will be another priority after elections in which turnout was 38%, the lowest in nearly 20 years.
The cabinet must also oversee preparations for the 2030 World Cup, which Morocco will co-host with Spain and Portugal.
Italy has extended by another week its suspension of the European Union's border-free travel arrangements with Spain over a surge in migrant arrivals in Ceuta in late July, an Italian government source said on Friday.
The Museum of Moroccan Jewish Culture was inaugurated on Monday in Fez. The project was launched at the initiative of King Mohammed VI.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday that Moroccan naval vessels entered Spanish waters off Ceuta without permission after late July's mass migrant crossing into the North African enclave, state broadcaster TVE reported.
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