The Operation Step of the Strait (OPE ), which every summer allows more than three million Moroccans returning home on holiday, will not take place this year, because at the moment even the opening of borders is not known by Morocco.

The announcement was made this Monday by the Moroccan Foreign Minister, Naser Burita , who in an appearance before the House of Representatives (lower) of Parliament said that Operation Marhaba (Welcome), as the OPE is known in Morocco, will not be organized this summer.

"It is obvious that Operation Marhaba, as it is known every summer, will not take place this year," said the minister, who referred to this operation only at the end of his speech, after discussing other issues.

However, Burita said that Moroccan emigrants will be able to return to their country of origin when the borders are open, but there is still no date.

Preparations from April

The minister explained that Operation Marhaba, which every year involves the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Moroccan residents in Europe to spend their summer holidays in their country of origin, requires preparations from the month of April, in addition to coordination between several countries and the intervention of various institutions , all factors that have not met this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Operation Crossing the Strait constitutes one of the most important devices worldwide, and one of the examples of coordination between the countries involved in the transit of large human flows; Every year, a Spanish-Moroccan mixed commission, which holds meetings in both countries, looks after its development in good conditions.

In 2019 a total of 3,242,970 passengers and 760,215 vehicles took part in the OPE last year, 3% more than the previous year, according to figures from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior. With the announcement, the Moroccan minister has thus settled an issue on which many expectations were planned and which has required many meetings.

On June 4, sources from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior told Efe that there were then almost daily contacts with Morocco to study the viability of Operation Crossing the Strait, and that the operation was then considered "postponed but not suspended".

Representatives from France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy also participated in these contacts, since being an operation that involves all these countries, all decisions had to be made "jointly and in coordination".

Economic impact

For Morocco, the OPE has an economic character, in addition to an important social and family dimension, since emigrants consider themselves tourists who bring dynamism to the country's tourism sector, and are an important source of foreign exchange.

In his appearance before Parliament, Burita indicated that Moroccan emigrants residing abroad may return to their country of origin when the land, air and sea borders are opened, but did not specify a date for that opening.

At the same time, he pointed out that these returns will be subject to the measures taken by the transit countries (particularly Spain and Italy) and to the epidemiological situation, both Moroccan and international. In addition, various conditions will be imposed on travelers , such as the obligation to undergo nine-day individual confinement and the performance of two discard tests at the beginning and end of isolation.

On the other hand, the minister offered details on the repatriation of his nationals trapped three months ago abroad after the closure of borders.

After a first repatriation phase to return Moroccans from the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla and from Algeria, Burita explained that from May 15 until today , 3,157 Moroccans trapped essentially in Spain and Turkey have been repatriated . The minister added that this operation will be accelerated from this week to organize 30 trips from 17 countries.

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  • Morocco
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  • Holland
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  • Belgium
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  • Covid 19
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