Western Sahara
The Western Sahara liberation movement, Frente Polisario, has issued a statement condemning today’s EU Council decision to include Western Sahara in the Morocco trade agreement.
The proposals violate the EU and its Member States’ obligation of non-recognition of Morocco’s breaches: the right to self-determination of people, the prohibition on aggression, and some of the ‘intransgressible rules’ of international humanitarian law.
The Commission tries to misguide the Member States concerning the consultation process launched to "comply" with the European Court of Justice, which had rejected the inclusion of Western Sahara in the EU-Morocco Association Agreement.
The EU Commission received heavy critique from the European Parliament for its suggestion to include occupied Western Sahara in a trade deal with Morocco.
The Polisario Front brought an action for annulment of the Council of the European Union’s decision, which allows the European Commission to open negotiations with Rabat to extend EU-Morocco fishing agreement to Western Sahara.
The EU Commission has today presented its suggested trade arrangement for occupied Western Sahara, which still requires the approval of the EU Member States and the EU Parliament.
The Western Sahara Resource Watch stressed that the Sahrawi people’s consent is indispensable in any a trade agreement between the European Union and Morocco.
In this regard, Federica Mogherini said that the Commission "has taken note" of the CJEU’s ruling and is examining it in order to determine the consequences and possible actions to be taken.
Representatives of the Polisario Front, the independence movement which claims to represent the people of Western Sahara, say that talks should now start on a separate EU-Western Sahara agreement.
The Luxembourg court validates the EU-Morocco fisheries pact, but excludes Western Sahara because that area is not part of the Kingdom of Morocco
"Sweden considers that the proposed mandate does not meet the requirements of international law", the official government statement reads.
The document ignores the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) of Dec. 21 2016, which stated that Western Sahara is a “separate and distinct” territory from Morocco.
The European Union’s fisheries agreement with Morocco should be declared invalid because it includes the disputed territory of Western Sahara, an adviser to the EU’s top court said.
Not awaiting the EU Court of Justice’s verdict on the legality of the current fisheries protocol with Morocco over the inclusion of Western Sahara’s waters, the EU Commission is already thinking out loud about its successor.
The two sides discussed the amendment of the Morocco-EU agriculture agreement, after the European Court of Justice ruled in December 2016 that is not applicable to goods from Western Sahara.
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Opposition referred to the inclusion of Western Sahara, which they say renders the deal illegal under EU law.
WSCUK argues that the UK was unlawfully allowing products, originating from or processed in Western Sahara, to be imported into the UK under a trade agreement with Morocco.
"Seeking to circumvent the ECJ’s ruling, directly challenges the credibility of the EU, and significantly damages the potential for progress through the UN-led negotiation process", Saharawi groups qualify the EU’s talks with Morocco regarding Western Sahara trade, in their letter to the EU’s Foreign Affairs Chief.
Several Nigerian lobby groups, including an organization of retired ambassadors, are putting pressure on the Nigerian government to reject the application because of the decades-old dispute over Western Sahara and Morocco’s geographical distance.
A note sent from French government to the French parliamentarians in Brussels casts doubts on whether France has studied the judgment at all.
bilaterals.org team, Jan 2021