Burita affirms that a “regional court” like the CJEU cannot dictate what happens in “the Moroccan Sahara”

MADRID 8 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Moroccan Foreign Minister, Naser Burita, has insisted that the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) that annuls the fishing and trade agreements does not concern Morocco in any way and has questioned the justification given for said court, since it considers that a “regional court” is not the one to rule on a territory, Western Sahara, that Rabat considers under its sovereignty.

“It is a stroke of a sword in the water,” the head of Moroccan diplomacy concluded, in a press conference after receiving the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, in Rabat, and in which he recalled that in his first reaction the The Government of Morocco declared that it was not part of the judicial dispute.

The CJEU pointed out in its ruling on Friday that the trade and fishing agreements are illegal because they do not have the explicit endorsement of the Sahrawi population, granting the Polisario Front the status of legitimate representative in this area. However, Burita has stressed that there is no discussion regarding the “Moroccan Sahara” regarding sovereignty.

“The question of the Sahara is discussed in the United Nations Security Council, (…) not in any other space,” the minister alleged, in statements reported by ‘Le 360’. Likewise, he pointed out that the international dynamic is “clear” in favor of Moroccan sovereignty over the former Spanish colony or the autonomy plan and recalled the endorsement of “important countries” within the EU such as Spain or France.

Regarding the future of trade relations, Burita has put the ball in the EU’s court and has said that both the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, and the High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, have publicly advocated for maintaining alliances. He hopes that the governments that have taken a position in this regard will contribute to maintaining this cooperation.