The European Union’s highest court has definitively ruled that fisheries and agriculture agreements signed five years ago between the EU and Morocco did not include consultations with the people of Western Sahara.
Western Sahara, a phosphate-rich desert on the Atlantic coast, has been a disputed territory since Morocco annexed the former Spanish colony in 1975, sparking a conflict with the independence-seeking Polisario Front. The United Nations considers it a “non-self-governing territory.”
The status of Western Sahara is one of the most sensitive issues in the North African kingdom. Morocco considers this vast territory its “southern provinces” and fiercely defends it against any perceived threat to its territorial integrity.
In its ruling, the Court of Justice of the European Union stated that for the 2019 EU-Morocco agricultural and fisheries agreements to be valid, they “must receive the consent of the people of Western Sahara. However, no such consent was given in this case.”
It declared that the agreements “were concluded in violation of the principles of self-determination and the relative effects of treaties.” The Court, based in Luxembourg, rejected “in their entirety” appeals brought by the European executive and the Council representing the 27 member states.
The fisheries agreement defined the areas where European vessels with Moroccan permits could fish and included waters controlled by Morocco west of the disputed territory. As the four-year agreement has already expired, the Court’s decision will only affect future agreements.
The Court acknowledged that EU institutions had launched a consultation process before concluding the agreements but stated that this involved people present on the territory, “regardless of whether or not they belong to the people of Western Sahara.” It noted that “a significant proportion of this people now live outside this territory.”
Polisario’s representative to the United Nations and international organizations in Geneva, Oubi Bouchrava, welcomed the decision.
“The court has sent a strong legal message to the political powers and mainly to France and Spain, that Morocco and Western Sahara are distinct and separate territories, and that Morocco has no sovereignty over the territory,” Bouchrava said in a statement. “This is a great victory for the people of Western Sahara in their quest for self-determination and independence and a painful blow to Morocco and its occupation economy.”
Keywords
- Western Sahara
- Morocco
- EU
- fisheries
- agriculture
- Court of Justice of the European Union
- Polisario Front
- self-determination
- territorial dispute
- international law
