Denver – Many members of the EU’s legislative body have voiced support for Morocco in response to the European top court’s ruling to annul Morocco-EU fisheries and agriculture deals.
In a controversial move, the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice (ECJ) cited the Western Sahara dispute in justification of its decision to invalidate EU-Morocco commercial agreements.
The case was brought to the court by the Polisario Front, which alleged the EU Parliament did not consult the Polisario prior to sealing the economic agreement with Morocco in 2019.
Several members of the European Parliament (MEPs) immediately took to social media to criticize the ruling
One MEP, Frederic Reiss of Belgium, pointed out that the court’s decision ignored many established facts in the Western Sahara conflict. According to Reiss, the ruling “contradicts the efforts made on the ground,” and effectively ignores the “political realities” of the situation.
Bulgarian MEP Petar Vitanov echoed similar sentiments, stating the EU “must give [Morocco] all our support.” MEPs from Hungary, Poland, and Czechia also voiced support for Morocco.
Polisario’s main argument against the EU-Morocco deals is that they do not benefit the local population in the Western Sahara region.
In a December 2020 report, however, the European Parliament established that the fisheries and agriculture agreements provide income for a significant portion of the local population.
In its verdict annulling the agreements, the ECJ ruled that while Morocco and the EU Parliament have established the benefits of their agreements to the local people, they failed to establish a legally binding statement of consent from locals.
The verdict however acknowledged the significance of the agreements and conceded that the “annul” ruling will not immediately go into force as an “immediate effect is likely to have serious consequences on the external action of the European Union.”
The court gave Morocco and the EU two months to appeal its ruling, and the two allies have already made clear their intention to file an appeal.
According to observers, this means that the ECJ’s ruling will have little effect on the ground. Genevra Forwood, a specialist of EU law, said that the ECJ ruling will “not change anything on the ground for economic operators.”
