At a mere 4 weeks before the expiry of the current EU-Moroccan fisheries agreement (FPA), it is still not clear whether the agreement is up for renewal. Mr. Sándor Fazekas, Hungarian Minister of Rural Development and President-in-office of the European Council, has stated that the FPA is not yet on the Council's agenda.

"There will inevitably be a gap", explained Mrs. Lowri Evans, Director-General of the European Commission's Directorate General for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs (DG MARE), in today's open hearing in the European Parliament's Maghreb Delegation.

"We are exploring ad hoc solutions for the fishing vessels active under the agreement, but we need to analyse the room for legal manoeuvres. We do count on Morocco's cooperation in this", she continued. "There are no clear indications on what the Commission will be doing in the next couple of weeks". Mrs. Evans mentioned that the idea of extending the agreement was considered.

But the lack of time for extension creates a sense of urgency, and that is something the Commission will have to deal with. Spanish MEP Carmen Romero Lopez felt that the fishermen were "held hostage". "Our fleet depends on it. The EU-Moroccan FPA needs to be signed as soon as possible".

Most MEPs did not object a continuation of the agreement, but deputies like Raül Romeva (Spanish, The Greens) and Guido Milana (Italian, Socialists) called for the exclusion of Western Sahara from the pact's scope. Furthermore, they advocated that representatives of the Saharawi people should be included in negotiations for a potential follow-up agreement.

For months, the Western Sahara issue has dominated the EU-Moroccan discussions on the future of the FPA.

It's been nearly a year since the European Commission first requested Morocco to present a report on the EU-Moroccan fisheries agreement's impact on the local population of Western Sahara. From the get-go, the Commission had made it clear to consider such a report as a requirement for renewal. Yet for months on end, no adequate information was received.

Mrs. Evans today announced that "relevant information had been received just before Christmas". The Commission is still in the process of analysing the "substantially large amount of information".

The Commission has only requested the Moroccan government to provide information on how the agreement benefits the Saharawi. No demands have been made as to consultation of the Saharawi's wishes, which the UN demands. The former UN secretary-general for legal affairs has repeatedly stated that it is astonishing that the wishes of the Saharawi are not taken into account by the EU, as international law prescribes.

Mrs. Mbarka Bouaida of the Moroccan Chamber of Representatives, argued that the current FPA did not compel Morocco to deliver the requested info, and questioned who is meant by the designation "Saharawi". "This agreement shouldn't be dealing with issues for specific territorial regions; the impact on the general population is important, not that of one region".

As to the suggestion to exclude Saharawi waters, Mrs. Bouaida remarked that this "would be irrelevant, as the current agreement is in line with international law".

The EU pays Morocco an annual 36.1 million Euros for EU vessels to fish in its waters. The EU-Moroccan FPA is considered to be of great political importance to the community, as it includes 119 licenses for European vessels, of which 100 are granted to Spain.

In 2009, the European Parliament's legal services ruled that the agreement was in violation of international law, for failing to take into account the Saharawi's wishes and interests. In November 2009, 799 organisations protested the EU fisheries in the occupied waters.