© Fadel SENNA
The European Union’s (EU’s) top court has cancelled two trade deals that had allowed Morocco to export farm products and fish to the bloc from the disputed Western Sahara.
The ruling against the Maghreb country’s trade with the EU was hailed by the Polisario Front, the independence movement which has set up the Sahrawi Arab Republic, an entity recognized by the African Union (AU).
Morocco views Western Sahara as an integral part of its territory, but the UN views the former Spanish colony as a “non-autonomous territory” and the Polisario Front, backed by Algeria, has long sought its independence through armed struggle and diplomacy.
Morocco, a key trading partner with the 27-member EU, views the Western Sahara as an integral part of its territory, but the Polisario, recognised internationally as the representative of the Sahrawi people, has long sought independence there.
The EU’s Court of Justice ruled that the deals, allowing exports from the former Spanish colony as well as the rest of Morocco, had been signed “without the consent of the people of Western Sahara”, adding that the Polisario’s status allowed it to bring complaints against the bloc.
© Jean-Michel CORNU Map of northern Africa locating Morocco, the Western Sahara and Algeria
Therefore they had “infringed the European Union’s obligations in the context of its relations with Morocco under EU and international law,” the court said.
Source: AFP
