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Rabat – The European Commission is set to launch negotiations with Morocco on a new fisheries agreement in the coming days.
News outlet Euractiv reported on Thursday that EU ambassadors authorized the EU Commission to launch negotiations with Morocco regarding the agreement.
The previous pact between Morocco and the EU expired in 2023. Talks have not resumed yet since pro-Polisario advocates have been lobbying against the agreement, especially following the hostile European Court of Justice ruling in 2024.
The court annulled both the EU-Morocco trade and fishing agreements in 2024, claiming that the EU Commission “violated the right of self-determination of the Western Sahara population.”
Morocco responded to the ruling, stressing that it does not consider the verdict relevant or important for its agricultural or fisheries agreements with the EU, urging the European body to take action rather than words to safeguard its partnership with Rabat.
The EU’s whole fabric took Morocco’s side, reiterating the importance of bilateral ties as well as partnership with the North African country.
In October last year, Morocco and the EU signed an amendment to the agricultural agreement amendment, further backing Rabat’s position.
The agreement stipulates that agricultural products originating from Morocco’s southern provinces will benefit from the same preferential access conditions to the EU as those from the rest of the country.
The deal also introduces technical adjustments designed to facilitate access for Moroccan produce, with an emphasis on consumer information, including labeling regions of production.
Spain’s Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, has long defended the importance of the EU-Morocco partnership. He recently expressed optimism about the prospects for collaboration, stating that the fishing deal would be signed between the EU and Morocco in the “near future.”
In November last year, Spanish news agency EFE reported that the EU Commission approved a proposal, opening the path for future and potential negotiations on a new fishing deal with Morocco.
EFE quoted Costas Kadis, the EU Commissioner for Fisheries, who said the development was “very important” for ties with Morocco.
The EU and Morocco have been joined in a fisheries deal since 1995.
A sustainable fisheries partnership agreement entered into force in July 2019, ending at four years. The recent protocol between the two parties expired in July 2023.
The deal that expired in 2023 provided fishing opportunities for up to 128 vessels from the EU in the fishing zone covered by the deal, including the waters off of Morocco’s southern provinces.
The compensation for the deal under the protocol is funded by the EU budget and was estimated at €37 million in the first year, and rising to €38 million in the second year and €42.4 million in the third and fourth years.
