2023-07-26 11:01:58
The CJEU must rule on the European appeal to annul the pact for including waters from Western Sahara
MADRID, 26 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Polisario Front has charged this Wednesday against the acting Minister of Agriculture of Spain, Luis Planas, for “insinuating a distorted reality” with his statements about a possible favorable ruling by the European Justice on the fisheries agreement with Morocco, after the appeal filed against the ruling of the General Court of the European Union annulling it for not taking Western Sahara into account.
Planas pointed out on Tuesday that he expects a favorable ruling and that the European Commission negotiates its renewal as soon as possible once the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is known, which is not expected until the beginning of 2024, and assured that this is the line of legal services in Brussels.
“In my opinion, as soon as the sentence is handed down, which I hope and wish proves us right, we can continue so that the Commission negotiates an agreement with Morocco as soon as possible,” he said, before acknowledging that the calendar for launching negotiations is ” hard to predict.”
In response, the Polisario Front delegate in Spain, Abdulah Arabi, stated that Planas’s statements are “a new attempt to insinuate a distorted reality” in Western Sahara, a territory pending decolonization, according to the Saharawi news agency SPS. .
Thus, he has emphasized that the reality is “clear” and has been supported by the ruling of the General Court of the EU, before pointing out that “minimizing the importance” of the role of the Polisario Front and trusting in the reversal of the ruling will not go in line with the legal framework applicable to the territory.
For this reason, he has indicated that both International Law and the verdict of the aforementioned court have “clearly” set the conditions for any economic activity in Western Sahara, after the fishing agreement between the EU and Morocco came to an end on July 17. in the midst of doubts about its possible renewal and awaiting the pronouncement of the CJEU.
Arabi has outlined that the Polisario Front expects the court to ratify the aforementioned ruling and has argued that, regardless of the decision adopted by the CJEU, the Saharawi people will respect judicial decisions and “will be alert” to verify if the rest of the parties do the same. itself or “violate the legitimate rights of the Saharawi people”.
The EU governments approved in December 2021 to appeal the rulings of the General Court of the European Union that annulled the commercial and fishing agreements between the bloc and Morocco that include Western Sahara in their application despite not having obtained the consent of the Polisario Front .
The European Justice annulled at the end of September of that same year the fishing agreement between the EU and Morocco for including Western Sahara waters, as well as the tariff advantages that the bloc grants to products from the former Spanish colony under the trade agreement between Brussels and Rabat.
In said ruling, the General Court of the EU (the first instance body) firstly rejected the arguments of the Council of the EU (the member states) according to which the Frente Polisario lacks procedural capacity and legitimacy before the CJEU, given that both agreements “have direct effects on the legal situation of the Polisario Front in its capacity as representative of that people and as a party to the process of self-determination of said territory.”
The annulment of the fisheries agreement between Brussels and Rabat especially affects Spain since it is the member state that benefits the most: of the 128 vessels that have authorization to fish in African waters, 92 fly the Spanish flag. Likewise, 91 percent of the catches included in the fishing pact with Morocco come from Saharawi waters.
The former Spanish colony was occupied despite the resistance of the Polisario Front, with whom it remained at war until 1991, when both parties signed a ceasefire with a view to holding a self-determination referendum, but differences over the preparation of the census and the inclusion or not of Moroccan settlers has so far prevented its call.
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