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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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When I cover Morocco, I confess I'm biased. To see a country gradually and so far without major disturbances going many more miles on the road of modernization is really an amazing spectacle. There are many reasons why Moroccan society succeeds where so many other Muslim countries have failed. It's fair to take some time and try to display these reasons without forgetting also to display the problems this Arab country faces and the goals it expects to reach.

Unlike many other Arab countries Morocco is an old, pre-colonial state. Even within the French Empire for many decades, it wasn't completely stripped from its state apparatus by the European colonial power. At that time this perhaps was considered as a problem in Paris, making more difficult the administrative and command-and-control verticals. What was a problem during the colonial past can become the single most important reason for the relatively peaceful transition between traditional and modern society. Most people in Morocco, unlike many other Arab countries, look at the state as "their" state, not as accidental administration with no historic pedigree put in place by some colonial power. To be precise, many countries in Europe were created during the centuries by the same political will with no real connection to the population, but these populations since have accepted the fact and even have perceived the states are their own. A hundred years from now perhaps many Arabs will look the same way toward their current governments, but that's another story. Thus Morocco being an old state has advantage compared to many other Arab societies. The population may like or not the government appointed by King Mohammed VI but nevertheless it's a legitimate government, not a foreign puppet regime.

Another very important, even if accidental, fact is that Morocco has neither big oil nor big national gas reserves. There are some but they are hardly sufficient to satisfy the domestic consumption. That means the government needs people's taxes and you guess right, the taxation goes well with political representation. On the other hand, as in every transitional country from traditional to modern society we still observe in Morocco high birth rates. Today's population of 32 million will perhaps reach 50 million by the mid century. The arable land is scarce commodity, the prospective of millions Moroccan migrants going to Europe isn't good idea for Brussels. The local government can't just pretend being ignorant of this problem, because millions of young unemployed citizens represent an open door toward revolution like in Iran in 1979. That's why most of the scares resources of the state go for education without gender discrimination. Talking about the gender equality, Morocco recently put on track new family code, establishing legal equality between the men and the women. No more discriminations of a kind we described last year.

What the government of Morocco really wants to achieve? What is the larger picture they have for their country? It's a bold one, the country being the second Muslim and the first Arab nation part of the European Union. It may sound shocking for many Europeans, but is it less shocking to consider Turkey a part of the Union by 2014? What objections the European will make if Morocco gradually becomes consolidated democratic country, with predominant urban population, with comparable educational levels to the European, with economy even closer to the European core countries?

The first European civilization, the civilizations of Greece, Cartage and Rome, were centered on the Mediterranean trade. It was the rupture in this trade that made Europe north of Italy turning into itself and developing for centuries around its center and northwestern regions. The century that has already begun will undo this historic incident. With the religion playing smaller role in all countries from Italy to Scandinavia and modernization gradually becoming the only game in town for all societies between Morocco and Lebanon it's really only a matter of time to see all political and economic barriers falling within this larger area.

Morocco profile:

• Area - 446,550 sq km
• Terrain - northern coast and interior are mountainous with large areas of bordering plateaus and rich coastal plains
• Population - 32.2 million (July 2004 est.)
• Population growth rate - 1.61% (2004 est.)
• Life expectancy at birth - 70.35 years
• Ethnic groups - Arab-Berber 99.1%, other 0.7%, Jewish 0.2%
• Religions - Muslim 98.7%, Christian 1.1%, Jewish 0.2%
• Government type - constitutional monarchy (King Mohammed VI)
• GDP per capita-purchasing power parity - $4,000 (2004 est.)
• Population below poverty line - 19% (1999 est.)
• Labor force by occupation - agriculture 40%, services 45%, industry 15% (1999 est.)
• Main trading partners - EU, US, other Arab countries
• Internet users - 800,000 (2003)

(Source: CIA World Factbook 2004)

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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Morocco.