"Future MEPs from Europe Ecologie will work to put an end to the natural resources plundering of Western Sahara", stated the French party in a letter to WSRW. Europe Ecologie is France\'s third largest political party in front of the European Elections on June 7th.
Update, 8 June 2009: Europe Ecologie surprised with 16 percent of the votes, getting 14 seats in the European parliament.In a letter to Western Sahara Resource Watch on 2 June 2009, Europe Ecologie, part of the Greens, states their full support to the Sahrawis' right to self-determination, and to the exclusion of Western Sahara from the EU-Moroccan fisheries agreement.
"We have always defended the Sahrawi's rights, and particularly their right to self-determination. Western Sahara is in effect maybe Africa's last colony, having been passed over from Spanish to Moroccan oppression in 1975", the letter reads.
It continues:
"Regarding the question of fishing offshore the coast of Western Sahara, the Greens/EFA had suggested two amendments to the Varela report in 2006, urging an explicit exclusion of the Western Saharan waters from the fisheries agreement with Morocco. These waters do not belong to Morocco. We strongly regret that the amendments were rejected, and we consider that the fisheries agreement between Morocco and the European Union violate international law. We will, however, continue to defend the idea that all economic arrangement regarding this territory must benefit the Sahrawi people. The future members of parliament from Europe Ecologie will work to put an end to the natural resources plundering of Western Sahara",
Read letter from Europe Ecologie to WSRW here (in French).
MEPs shocked by Commission's Western Sahara bypass
In a hearing at the European Parliament earlier this week, lawmakers expressed outrage at how the Commission sidestepped them to push through a new agreement covering occupied Western Sahara, in violation of EU Court rulings.
EU pushes secretive Morocco trade deal covering Western Sahara
As EU ambassadors give their green light to a new Morocco trade deal, the public is still denied access to the very agreement they are voting on - a striking case of secrecy in Brussels.
"A declaration of war" - new EU agreement reactions
A wave of reactions is rippling across Europe following the news that the EU is moving ahead with a new trade agreement in occupied Western Sahara. The vote is scheduled for tomorrow.
Commission Pushes EU-Morocco Trade Deal, Ignoring Democratic Processes and Saharawi Rights
WSRW can today reveal a leaked EU document showing plans to continue trading with products from occupied Western Sahara, in direct violation of earlier rulings by the EU Court of Justice. A vote will take place this Wednesday.