A survey shows that 75% of West Africa’s MPs support Morocco’s membership in the Economic Community of West African States. The survey conducted by French institutes, Opinions et Région and IPSE, shows that the majority of MPs considered Morocco’s membership as a factor that will strengthen the ECOWAs while the remaining 25% considered the move as a matter that requires careful thought. Only 32% of MPs taking part in the survey supported Algeria’s potential ECOWAS membership while 73% of them backed Tunisia. Morocco’s membership request was accepted “in principle” by ECOWAS heads of state at a June 4, 2017 summit in the Liberian capital, Monrovia. With the inclusion of Morocco, the ECOWAS will bolster its aggregated GDP to the 16th rank globally ahead of Turkey and right after Indonesia.

Source: The North Africa Journal July 31, 2018 11:15 UTC