The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled this Friday on the annulment of the fishing and agricultural product agreements between the European Union and Morocco signed in 2019 because, it considers, they do not hold takes into account the principles of self-determination of the European Union. Western Sahara and they do not have their consent either.
However, regarding the liberalization of agricultural products, The High Court chose to keep it in force for twelve months from this Friday, taking into account the negative consequences that an immediate annulment would have for the EU, as well as for reasons of legal certainty.
The conflict in Western Sahara, a territory in northwest Africa, has been thwarting the fishing agreement between the European Union and Morocco for years. It was in 2023 that the agreement on fishing and agriculture between the two regions was suspended after the EU General Court decided to cancel it. This fishing agreement has particular repercussions for Galician, Andalusian and Canarian fleet, who fish in the fishing zones located in the waters of Western Sahara.
The Polisario Front, which has been fighting since the 1960s for the self-determination and autonomy of Western Sahara, is leading a territorial conflict against Morocco and defeating the agreements that this country signed with the European Union by defending that it has no powers to decide on the exploitation of natural resources of Western Sahara and the waters of this territory.
It was in fact the Polisario Front which, representing the Sahrawi people, challenged the trade agreements between the EU and Morocco by appealing to the General Court of the EU, in 2019. They argued that such agreements did not have the approval of the people of Western Sahara and, therefore, your consent, an argument with which the Luxembourg-based European court agreed.
European justice considered that the Polisario Front as a legitimate interlocutor, under the protection of the United Nations, to represent the interests of the Sahrawi people. It therefore meets the requirements to be able to challenge before the Union judge in the interest of said persons.
The European Commission and the Council of the EU (which includes the twenty-seven member states) appealed this decision to the CJEU, which rejected their appeals this Friday and annulled the fisheries agreement.
