PROJECT DESCRIPTION

By voting for Law no. 70.03 in 2004, the Moroccan Chamber of Representatives and the Chamber of Councillors adopted a new Family Code (MFC). The MFC was the subject of much commentary at the time, which helped familiarise people, especially abroad, with this new legislative instrument and especially the many changes it brought to the regulation of family relationships in Moroccan domestic law. Some have considered that the Moroccan legislators had revolutionised family law, while others described the exercise as minimalist.

The research project presented briefly here does not seek to take a position within this debate, which in the end is essentially a debate on the evolution of Moroccan domestic law, but to study certain very specific effects of this legislative process which is nothing short of remarkable. The aim of the project is to produce, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the entry into force of the new Moroccan Family Code (2004–2014), a collective publication that addresses various questions around the concrete application, in Morocco and in several European countries, of provisions that have a particular impact on the family situation of Moroccan nationals living abroad (MNAs).

A RESEARCH PROGRAMME WITH FIVE COMPONENTS

The research project consists of five components. The first involves performing an analysis, as detailed as possible, of the case law available since 2004 for the five European countries with the largest population of Moroccan residents: France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium. The aim is to undertake an in-depth analysis of the case law that can help provide a more concrete idea of the problems raised by the application of the MFC since 2004 and especially of the legal problems affecting the family lives of MNAs. The study devotes special attention to the way in which in practice the provisions of the MFC relating to marriage, divorce and filiation are applied – or rejected. In the event that they are rejected, the analysis focuses on the reasons adduced for the rejection.