In disregard of two EU Court rulings, the EU Member States have today authorized the EU Commission to negotiations with Morocco for a new fisheries protocol that will also cover occupied Western Sahara.
Two months after the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that no Fisheries Partnership between the EU and Morocco can be applied to Western Sahara, the EU Council voted in favour of negotiating a new fisheries protocol with Morocco that will include the waters of occupied Western Sahara.
The EU Commission announced its intention to start the talks with Morocco one month ago. The text of the negotiation mandate was released at the same time, stating that the EU considers that "it is possible to extend the bilateral agreements with Morocco to Western Sahara under certain conditions", but that the arrangement is subject to a resolution of the conflict in a UN context.
Sweden had stated it would oppose a mandate for a new protocol in February 2018 "because Sweden considers that the proposed mandate does not meet the requirements of international law."
On 27 February this year, the EU Court of Justice ruled that the EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Agreement is only legally valid if it is not applied to Western Sahara. The ruling was in line with the Court's previous ruling of December 2016, concluding that no EU trade or association agreement could be applied to Western Sahara - due to its "separate and distinct" status - without the consent of the people of that territory.
EU-Morocco Statement: autonomy without self-determination, law without lawfulness
A joint statement that came out of last week’s EU-Morocco Association Council asks readers to believe in a fiction: that an undefined autonomy plan imposed by an occupying power can satisfy the right to self-determination, and that respect for international law can coexist with the systematic ignoring of the EU’s own highest court.
Greenland Yes, Western Sahara No? The EU’s self-determination test
As the European Union rightly rallies behind Greenlanders’ right to decide their own future in the face of external pressure, a test of the EU’s real commitment to self-determination is quietly unfolding in Brussels.
The CJEU Court Cases
Keeping track of the many legal proceedings relating to Western Sahara is not easy. This page offers an overview of the cases concerning the territory that have been before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
New report: Certified occupation
International certification standards embellish Morocco’s controversial trade with fisheries and agricultural products in occupied Western Sahara, new report documents.