In Morocco there is an independence movement that does not recognize that Western Sahara is part of the North African state. The so-called Polisario have now won a court victory.
According to a ruling by the European Union Court, the EU must improve its agreements with Morocco because the “consent of the people of Western Sahara” is missing.
As the court announced on Wednesday, decisions in the areas of agriculture and fisheries of the EU Council of Ministers with Morocco are void. The Western Sahara was a Spanish colony until 1975 and after the withdrawal of the Spaniards was largely annexed by Morocco, which is not recognized by most states.
The Polisario independence movement, which controls part of the area, filed a lawsuit against the decisions in 2019. The Algerian-backed group has long sought to withdraw Morocco from Western Sahara.
The decisions of the EU and Morocco concerned the amendment of an agreement on the importation of agricultural products from Morocco into the European Union and the amendment of a fisheries agreement. According to the court, the plan was to include the waters bordering Western Sahara within the scope of the agreement.
The court stated that the Polisario could sue in the sense 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”.
Individual parts of the decisions should therefore be upheld for a certain period of time in order to maintain legal certainty with regard to international obligations. The ruling could further strain the EU’s relations with Morocco. Morocco recently opened its border with the Spanish exclave of North Africa, Ceuta, to migrants from Africa, triggering mass exodus.
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