The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) ruled this Friday Trade agreements on agriculture and fisheries between the EU and the Kingdom of Morocco considering that both were detained without the consent of the people of Western Sahara. The CJEU thus put an end to the dispute over the fishing agreement with Morocco and its protocol, by rejecting the appeals of the Council and the Commission, in accordance with the judgment of the EU General Court of 2021 and the conclusions of the General Counsel Tamara Capeta.
The application of this protocol expired on July 17, 2023, which means suspension of activitywhich particularly affects Spain, since 92 of the 138 licenses that operate in the area correspond to their flag, more precisely to the Andalusian, Galician and Canarian fleets.
It was the Polisario Front, which claims to represent the people of Western Sahara, which filed a series of annulment appeals to challenge the two agreements, because they had been concluded without the consent of the people of Western Sahara. This Friday’s sentence confirms that this consent does not exist and considers the Polisario Front as a privileged interlocutor in the process and which meets the requirements to be able to contest these agreements in the interest of the Sahrawi people.
However, the CJEU specifies, contrary to what the Court declared, that the consent of the people of Western Sahara to the controversial agreements This didn’t have to be explicit.that is, it can be taken for granted when no obligations are created for that people and the exploitation of their natural resources brings them some type of benefit.
In this regard, the Court of Justice recognizes that these agreements do not create legal obligations incumbent on the people of Western Sahara, but neither do they confer any right or advantage over the exploitation of their resources, so that consent cannot be presumed, added that the Polisario Front, as the legitimate representative of said people, opposes the agreements, which, in the opinion of the CJEU, is also sufficient to call into question the existence of consent.
On the basis of the same principles, the Court of Justice also ruled on a French preliminary question concerning the problem of the origin of melons and tomatoes from Western Sahara and ruled that their Labeling must indicate Western Sahara only as the country of origin of these products, excluding any reference to Morocco, so as not to mislead the consumer about their true origin.
