"The moment is delicate". It was with these terms that Abdelilah Benkirane, head of government and secretary general of the PJD, started his speech, on Sunday 19 May, in Bouznika, addressing the militants of his party. This media outing is thus the first where Mr. Benkirane speaks about the political situation and alludes to the recent decision of the Istiqlal national council to withdraw from the government. "There is no concern at the government level, it is within the majority that there are problems," insisted Mr. Benkirane.

"The problem today is that there is no opposition between one party and another, but a confrontation between two currents. One advocates reform and the fight against corruption, the second wants to preserve its narrow interests. And for that, it seeks to destabilise us by all means: statements, demonstrations, media...", he remarked.

Criticising the memorandums sent by the Istiqlal, Mr. Benkirane declared: "We cannot react to memorandums accompanied by insults and outrages, actions which have no other purpose than to sow confusion. They have their policy and we have ours. We will not respond to their provocations, we will not give in to their pressure". Mr. Benkirane also alluded to the mobilisation of Istiqlaliens against the government during the 1 May demonstrations.

"Unfortunately, a part of the people lets itself be fooled by these forces, by accepting their tickets, by getting on their buses, participating in their demonstrations. But we are not afraid of the "baltajia" (thugs)," he stressed. And to add: "We will continue our reforms in order to fight against corruption whatever the cost. And this despite the attempts to destabilise our experience, attempts that want to make Morocco regress and keep it in the logic of monopoly".

In this sense, the head of government recalled that the Executive has no choice but to act and look into deep reforms whose results will be seen over time. It is a question of the Compensation Fund which consumes 57 billion DH of the budget, the debt of 600 billion DH, the restoration of macroeconomic balances, the Pension Fund which will run out in 2022 if no reform is adopted, the sanitisation of the business climate, the modernisation of the administration, the encouragement of investment, tax reform...