Euractiv | 6 October 2025
Parliament trade chief calls Commission’s handling of Morocco deal ‘outrageous’
by Jeremias Lin
A rushed move to fast-track a Morocco trade deal before the EU top court’s deadline has triggered a power struggle in Brussels, with MEPs accusing the European Commission of bypassing the European Parliament’s authority.
The amended EU–Morocco trade deal covers farm and fishery products, including goods from the disputed Western Sahara “at preferential tariff rates,” Euractiv first reported last week.
The revision aims at addressing a Court of Justice of the European Union ruling that annulled the previous deal for ignoring the consent of the Sahrawi people.
But critics say the Commission’s quick fix – labelling Western Saharan goods and treating consent as “presumed” through “specific, tangible, substantial and verifiable benefits” – falls short and sidelines the Parliament.
Bernd Lange (S&D), who chairs Parliament’s trade committee, called the Commission’s procedure as “a truly outrageous way of operating.”
“The ruling of the court has been known for a year, and yet the Commission was apparently either unable or unwilling to sort things out through a proper procedure,” the German MEP told Euractiv.
Institutional dispute
MEPs say they were informed of the decision only on 26 September – days before it was officially signed off by the Council, which approved the provisional application on 3 October. The Commission published the proposal online the following Monday.
Lange argues the decision violates a recently updated framework agreement between the EU institutions that was meant to “to ensure that there can be no provisional application without the Parliament’s consent”.
“Despite having just improved our framework with the Commission to prevent this kind of situation … they’ve gone ahead and done exactly that,” he said.
Spanish MEP Vicent Marzà (Greens/EFA), member of the delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries (DMAG), voiced similar frustration, accusing the Commission of keeping lawmakers “in the dark” and showing an unprecedented “level of obscurity.”
“[The Commission] was not only not talking to Parliament; it was denying information that must be given to the representatives, like me,” he told Euractiv.
Parliament’s trade committee is holding an extraordinary meeting in Strasbourg on Monday evening, to discuss the matter. Lange said he plans to raise the issue again on Tuesday morning when committee chairs meet Commission representatives.
“When you have an agreement, you should stick to it,” Lange said, referring to the framework agreement.