The autonomous government of Cataluña has offered Morocco to govern Islam in Cataluña via cooperating in the management of religious sermons and mosques and the teaching of Arabic language in Catalan public schools for students of Moroccan origin.
According to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, the plan adopted on Monday in Barcelona by the executive of the region is an attempt by the separatist government to achieve two major goals. The first one is to seduce the Moroccan community, which is the largest foreign community in Cataluña, in order to push them to vote in favour of the independence of the region in the self-determination referendum Cataluña has planned on November 9. The second objective according to El Mundo is to appease Morocco’s hostility towards Cataluña’s independence from Spain.
The plan provides for the development of religious content by Moroccan Ulema for the majority of Muslims living in Cataluña and the dissemination of such content through teaching programs in both schools and mosques.
El Mundo, which does not hide its hostility towards this project, has added that the Catalan government has given Morocco a tremendous tool of unprecedented influence in Europe.
This project is part of a plan known as Morocco 2014-2017 which has been approved by the Catalan government on Monday. The primary objective of the plan according to the government is to strengthen and promote bilateral relations with the kingdom of Morocco in five fields of cooperation, among which the religious sector.
The Moroccan Times.
