The consequences of the annulment this Friday by the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) of the agricultural and fishing trade agreements between the EU and Morocco exceed the economic damage for the Spanish fleet, which is prohibited from fishing in African waters since last year.
The decision also has important political implications. Because by denying the validity of the agreements, considering that they were concluded without obtaining the consent of the people of Western Sahara, The CJEU recognizes the former Spanish colony as a territory distinct from that of Morocco.
Which means that the highest interpreter of European law supports the Polisario Front and disavows the government’s turn to Sanchezwhich endorsed in March 2022 the autonomy plan under Moroccan sovereignty for Western Sahara.
The CJEU considers that by not having authorization from African territory, the EU and Morocco violated the principle of self-determination by concluding an agreement which was only applicable to Moroccan territory. And he thereby reaffirms that “the Sahrawi people are the only holders of the right to self-determination on their territory”, following the doctrine of the UN, which considers Western Sahara to be a territory awaiting decolonization.
If Spain has reversed its historical position on the conflict, it is because Sánchez chose to give in to Morocco as a means of ending the diplomatic crisis triggered by the reception of the Polisario front in our country.
Furthermore, starting to consider Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara as “the most serious, the most realistic and the most credible basis” for resolving the dispute sought the counterpart of the neighboring country cooperating in the control of migratory flows. And this was justified by alignment with the United States, which had recognized Moroccan sovereignty in 2020 (and with France later, which also changed its position last July to support the autonomy plan).
But the realpolitik of Sánchez towards Morocco came up against the reality of international legalitywhich recognizes the Sahara as territory pending a self-determination referendum.
This fundamental aspect was ignored by the government in its approach to the Sahara (and by the EU and Morocco, when celebrating an international agreement which also concerned goods obtained on Saharawi soil and waters).
The CJEU’s ruling will relaunch the political debate on this controversial change of position, for which Sánchez never gave an explanation to Congress. And this opens a new quarrel for the president within his parliamentary majoritygiven that Sumar and Podemos have rejected and continue to reject Sánchez’s support for Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara.
The insurrection this Friday Ione Belarra After the CJEU disavowed Spain’s position, accusing Sánchez of being complicit in “the Moroccan dictatorship”, it leaves a prelude to the resurrection of the controversy that this judgment will arouse.
