July 17 () –
The Polisario Front has assured this Sunday that it will reject the agreements between the European Union and Morocco that affect the “soil, territorial sea or air space” of Western Sahara.
In addition, he has stated that the fishing agreement – which expires this Monday, July 17 – “has been a testimony of a flagrant violation of the rights of the Saharawi people to their self-determination and of the principle of permanent sovereignty of the peoples over their resources that the European Court of Justice has declared illegal”.
“In its part consisting of a protocol by which 128 fishing licenses were granted by Morocco, of which 93 for Spanish fishing boats, have been merely an authorization to loot the 1,200 kilometers of Saharawi coast, violating all legal norms and without the consent of the Saharawi people and their authorities”, added the representative of the Polisario Front for the European Union, Omar Mansour, according to the SPS news agency.
Mansour has declared that he said that this agreement has allowed the installation of Moroccan settlers in the territories of Western Sahara and that it has forced the Saharawi population to abandon “their homes, their best lands and their jobs, forcing them to unemployment, to crime or emigration.
However, he has clarified that the Polisario is not opposed to any agreement between the European Union and Morocco, but to those that concern Saharawi territories; In addition, they have shown themselves open to reaching agreements with Brussels to cooperate on fisheries matters.
The European Commission, for its part, assumed last Friday that the European fleet that fishes in the Moroccan fishing grounds, mostly Spanish, must leave the waters from midnight on Monday, July 17, waiting for the justice European Union to rule on the legality of the agreement.
In addition, he confirmed that there are currently no negotiations between the two parties to extend the agreement.
The current agreement between the EU and the Kingdom of Morocco entered into force on July 18, 2019, which allowed the activity of the community fleet to resume, which had been suspended since July 14, 2018.
In November 2021, the General Court of the EU annulled the Council’s decision approving the fisheries agreement between the EU and Morocco and its protocol, although it preserved its effects until the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) rule on the appeals that both the Council and the Commission have filed against the sentence.
The CJEU decision is scheduled for early 2024, and until then the activity of the fleet will be suspended.
