Rabat - The Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, has responded to the ruling of the European Court of Justice regarding the EU-Morocco relationship and the Moroccan Sahara, reaffirming that “nothing in the [ECJ’s] verdict challenges the political legitimacy of Morocco to conclude agreements regarding the Moroccan Sahara with the EU.”
Rabat – The Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, has responded to the ruling of the European Court of Justice regarding the EU-Morocco relationship and the Moroccan Sahara, reaffirming that “nothing in the [ECJ’s] verdict challenges the political legitimacy of Morocco to conclude agreements regarding the Moroccan Sahara with the EU.”
On February 27, the ECJ decided that the fisheries agreement between the EU and Morocco is, “valid insofar as it is not applicable to Western Sahara or to its adjacent waters,” adding that, if the EU and Morocco included the Western Sahara region in their agreement, it would violate certain rules of “international law applicable to relations between the EU and Kingdom of Morocco.”
In an interview with Moroccan news outlet Le360, the official said that the court has not followed the opinions of the Advocate General at the ECJ, Wathelet Melchior, who previously said that the EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement should be “annulled.”
Bourita reaffirmed that the high court of the EU has at no time “invalidated” the Morocco-EU fisheries agreement.
The Moroccan diplomat also lauded the strategic partnership that links between Morocco and EU on different levels, stating that the two parties will continue to work to consolidate their cooperation and fishery ties.
“The Kingdom is equivalent to the sum of all of its territories from Tangier to Lagouira,” Bourita added.
