Spanish MEP Idoia Villanueva denounced the exclusion of the Polisario Front from the ongoing negotiations on the fisheries agreement in force since July 2019 between the European Union (EU) and Morocco, which is currently the subject of legal proceedings before the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU), a few months before its expiry, reported Spanish media.
On 17 July 2023, the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement, which was illegally extended to Western Sahara and is awaiting the final decision of the European court, will expire. The Luxembourg ruling is expected to come after this expiry date. And the European Commission is already working on an alternative path, in the face of the foreseeable condemnation by the CJEU, wrote the Spanish online newspaper Publico.es
Quoted by the newspaper, MEP Idoia Villanueva, from the Spanish party Unidas Podemos, denounced the fact that these talks "are opaque and do not take into account the Polisario Front," despite previous landmark rulings by the European courts.
"European justice has been clear: The Polisario Front must participate in the negotiations on the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement. However, the European Commission negotiates behind closed doors with Morocco and excludes the Saharawi people. We ask for explanations and that the law is respected," said Villanueva, who sent a question on this subject to the executive of Ursula von der Leyen.
Four years ago, the EU General Court invalidated trade agreements between the EU and Morocco. But the pact remains in force, pending the final decision of the CJEU, Europe's highest judicial body. Thus, by July, there would no longer be a legal framework allowing Morocco to issue fishing licences to EU vessels.
In 2021, the EU Court of Justice ruled in favor of the Polisario Front, which affirmed that the agreement with Morocco had been concluded without the consent of the Sahrawi people.
The agreement in question allows 128 European vessels, including 93 Spanish, to fish illegally in the waters of Western Sahara, occupied by Morocco since 1975.
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