The European Union’s top court has ruled that a long-standing fisheries agreement between Morocco and the EU does not apply to the waters off the coast of Western Sahara.
The ruling (pdf) issued by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on February 27 is the second international court decision in less than a week to go against Morocco, following one by the South African High Court over a disputed cargo of Western Saharan phosphate.
Morocco invaded Western Sahara in 1975 just as the former colonial power Spain pulled out. Ever since, it has tried to ensure its de facto control over the disputed territory is recognised by international powers. But while some other governments have taken its side, courts have invariably supported the position of the Polisario Front liberation movement and its self-declared Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic.
In December 2016 the ECJ ruled that an agriculture agreement between the EU and Morocco did not cover Western Sahara. The court did not make any ruling at the time about the 2006 Fisheries Agreement between the two sides, however, which led to this latest case.
The dispute arose after Western Sahara Campaign, a UK pressure group, sought a ruling from the High Court of Justice in London that the Fisheries Agreement did not cover the waters off Western Sahara. The High Court then referred the matter up to the ECJ.
In a clear judgement, the European court decided that “if the territory of Western Sahara were to be included within the scope of the Fisheries Agreement, that would be contrary to certain rules of general international law… [including] the principle of self-determination.”
It went on to say that, as Western Sahara does not form part of the territory of Morocco, the waters adjacent to Western Sahara “are not part of the Moroccan fishing zone referred to in the Fisheries Agreement”.
The decision had been widely expected after the court’s advocate general, Melchior Wathelet, issued an opinion on January 10 that the Fisheries Agreement could not be applied to Western Sahara as that would breach the EU’s obligation “to respect the right to self-determination of the people of that territory.”
