As of: 09/29/2021 4:07 p.m.
Western Sahara’s independence movement Polisario has won a ruling from an EU court that could have significant diplomatic repercussions. The court annulled parts of the agreement with Morocco.
According to a ruling by the European Union Court, the EU has to improve agreements with Morocco because the “consent of the people of Western Sahara” is missing. As the court announced, decisions in the areas of agriculture and fisheries of the EU Council of Ministers with Morocco are void. Individual parts of the decisions are likely to be upheld for a certain period of time in order to maintain legal certainty with regard to international obligations.
Western Sahara was a Spanish colony until 1975 and was largely annexed by Morocco after the Spaniards had withdrawn, although this is not recognized by most states. The independence movement Frente Polisario, which controls part of the area, has been striving for a long time to withdraw Morocco from Western Sahara. It is supported by Algeria.
Update of case law
The judgment builds on previous judgments from 2016 and 2018. At that time, the European Court of Justice ruled that an agricultural agreement between the EU and Morocco and a fisheries agreement should not include Western Sahara. In response, the Council agreed changes with Morocco to include the waters bordering Western Sahara within the scope of the agreement. The Polisario had filed a lawsuit against this in 2019.
The court found that Western Sahara is not part of Morocco. That is why the treaties between the EU and Morocco are not valid for Western Sahara. The Polisario is allowed to sue within the meaning of international law, since the “role and representativeness of the plaintiff are suitable to give her the right to bring an action before the courts of the Union”. The organization Western Sahara Resource Watch assessed the judgment as a “significant victory for the people of Western Sahara”.
Who is the main concern of the judgment?
The judgment is likely to affect Morocco and Spain most. The contract stipulates that Morocco will allow 128 vessels from eleven EU countries to fish off the West African coast for four years and receive 52 million euros a year for this. 92 of the ships come from Spain.
However, the ruling could also put a further strain on relations between the EU and Morocco as a whole. Morocco recently opened its border to the Spanish exclave of North Africa Ceuta for migrants from Africa, triggering a mass exodus. Previously, the head of the Polisario movement, Brahim Ghali, had received medical treatment in Spain with the approval of the government in Madrid.
Relations with Germany are also strained after the Federal Republic of Germany spoke out in the UN Security Council against recognizing Moroccan claims to Western Sahara. As a result, Rabat effectively froze relations with Berlin in the spring.
With information from Stefan Schaaf, ARD Studio Madrid