Did José Bové speak too quickly? The former ecologist MEP is in any case targeted by a defamation complaint filed by the Prime Minister of Morocco, Aziz Akhannouch. The latter did not appreciate the words of José Bové about an attempt at corruption on the part of the Kingdom on the sidelines of negotiations for a trade agreement in the early 2010s.
Friday on the radio France Interhe reported that when he was rapporteur for the Committee on Foreign Trade, “in the years 2009-2014”, he opposed a “harmful” free trade agreement targeting the trade in fruit and vegetables between the European Union and Morocco.
“False Accusations”
“Minister of Agriculture [de l’époque, Aziz Akhannouch], who could not stand that I could oppose this project, offered to bring me a present in Montpellier, in a discreet café,” he said. Was it money? “What else do you want it to be?” “, he replied to the journalist. According to his story, he made an appointment at his lawyer’s office, and “it ended there”. “When there are colossal economic interests at stake, these states exert pressure and some deputies, whom I would describe as crooked, have taken advantage of that,” he argued.
According to the complaint by Aziz Akhannouch, consulted by AFP, these are “inadmissible false accusations”, which are “only the reflection of an old resentment” of José Bové. “José Bové is visibly and dishonestly trying to take advantage of the legal news concerning the European Parliament, to bring out old unfounded stories”, according to Me Olivier Baratelli. These accusations came in the midst of an alleged corruption scandal involving Qatar in the European Parliament and aimed in particular at one of the vice-presidents of the institution, Eva Kaïli.