Polisario Front to file court appeal over EU-Morocco trade deal
The Polisario Front has confirmed that it will file a new appeal in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) by the end of the year to challenge the EU-Morocco agricultural and fisheries agreement, according to an Algerian government-friendly AL24 report on 1st December.
Special Advisor to the Sahrawi President in charge of natural resources and legal affairs, Abi Bouchraya El Bachir, has condemned the labelling of Western Sahara products as “Moroccan”, which he said is also against EU rules.
Morocco and the EU had signed a new trade agreement in October for agricultural and fisheries products, ensuring continued access of Moroccan products in European markets with reduced tariffs. The Polisario Front had previously expressed its disagreement with the trade deal and its intention to challenge it at the CJEU.
The matter escalated when the EU Parliament rejected a proposal to change the labels of products of the Western Sahara region from “Moroccan”. The vote had failed with just one vote short of the threshold.
The Sahrawi representative El Bachir called the trade agreement illegal, citing that the CJEU has recognised that Western Sahara and Morocco are separate entities. The CJEU had previously annulled a trade agreement between Morocco and the EU in 2019.
He also highlighted how Morocco had negotiated with the EU to include labelling from only two places: Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra or Dakhla‑Oued Eddahab, which are cities situated in the Western Sahara region.
He reasoned that these are cities and do not count as country of origin, which is mandatory as per EU laws, and Morocco would simply not accept the labelling of products as being from “Western Sahara”.
El Bachir expressed that there was a strong legal ground to challenge the agreement, as it had been annulled in previous years. He claimed that they want to prevent the exploitation of resources from the Western Sahara, including agricultural and fisheries, energy, tourism, and phosphates, among others.
He underlined that the Polisario Front intends to continue relying on this legal framework to hold companies accountable for their role in what it considers economic colonisation.
AL24, Maghrebi.org
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