"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).
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.