The Union of Farmers and Breeders Unions and the Polisario Front united to demand that the government of Pedro Sánchez implement the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) so that the labeling of products of the Western Sahara do not put as origin Morocco. More precisely, the CJEU ruled in a recent judgment that the consent of the people of Western Sahara because trade agreements between the EU and Morocco cannot be presumed.
Thus, the farmers and the Polisario Front demand that the sentence be carried out “from tomorrow and not wait for the 12 months of grace that Europe wants to grant. »
Therefore, the Union of Trade Unions urges immediate compliance through the identification of food products originating from Western Sahara and their labeling as such and not as Moroccan products. The agrarian organization and the Polisario Front agree that, in the current state of affairs, “it misleads consumers and producers about its origin.”
On the other hand, the agrarian organization proposed its dialogue in order to reach an agreement on import of products of Western Sahara, officially closing negotiations with the “legitimate representatives” of the governments, “like in this case the Polisario front”.
Farmers and the Polisario Front
“Likewise, the possibility of proposing to Congress a non-legislative proposal in this sense was offered, so that the Ministrywith a seemingly more distant position, can listen and understand the reasons that lead to this proposal”, explains the association.
Since the judgment was made public, the Unión de Uniones has “evaluated it in a very positive way”, notably because of the importance it gave “to the pressure exerted by the European Commission and the Spanish Government so that it does not move in this direction.
The organization calls for correct traceability labeling to be carried out for food produced in Western Sahara, in the same way as that required of European producers.
As part of the meeting in which they participated, Luis Cortesstate coordinator of the Union of Trade Unions, Luis Javier Navarromember of the organization’s executive committee; And, Abdallah ArabiAccording to the Sahrawi delegate for Spain of the Polisario Front, it was agreed to launch joint work on these issues.
CJEU decision
The CJEU stressed that, even if these agreements do not create legal obligations for the people of Western Sahara, they do not grant them any right or benefit on the exploitation of its natural resources. Therefore, the absence of explicit consent, added to the opposition of the Polisario Front, calls into question the validity of the agreements on behalf of the Sahrawi people.
The Court ruled on a preliminary question relating to product labeling from Western Sahara, such as melons and tomatoes. According to the decision, these products must be labeled only with Western Sahara as origin, without reference to Morocco, to avoid confusion about their true origin.
