The EU Court of Justice agrees with the Saharawi people: the agreements with Morocco are cancelled

The EU Court of Justice agrees with the Saharawi people: the agreements with Morocco are cancelled

The 2019 trade agreements between the European Union and Morocco on fisheries and agricultural products have been cancelled. This is the decision adopted on 4 October by the Court of Justice of the EU. The basis of the sentence is the finding that the population of Western Sahara had not given its consent and that the treaties had been concluded in violation of the principles of self-determination of peoples. However, with regard to the agreement on liberalization measures in the agricultural products sector, the Luxembourg judges decided to keep them in force for twelve months, taking into account the serious negative consequences for the external action of the Union that their immediate annulment would entail. . This is not the first occasion on which Luxembourg judges have criticized Brussels’ agreements with Morocco as violating the rights of the Saharawi people.

The lack of consensus of the Saharawi people

The judges recalled that “in light of its jurisprudence and on the basis of the principles of the right to self-determination and the relative effect of the treaties”, the implementation of an international agreement between the EU and Morocco in the territory of Western Sahara “must receive the consent of the people of Western Sahara” and that “no such consent was given” in the specific situation. Neither the European Commission nor the European External Action Service (EEAS) “have consulted the people of Western Sahara, who are the sole holders of the right to self-determination with regard to the territory of Western Sahara, but, in essence, the ‘population’ of that territory, i.e. its current inhabitants, the majority of whom do not belong to that people” since “a large part of that people has been in exile since the 1970s and has found refuge in Algeria “.

Deprived of rights and benefits deriving from the agreement with the EU

The Court also highlights how the expression of the consent of the people of Western Sahara to the agreements “does not necessarily have to be explicit”, but can also be obtained “when the agreement in question does not create an obligation on such people and when it provides that such people receives a specific, tangible, substantial and verifiable benefit from the exploitation of the natural resources of that territory” and “proportional to the degree of such exploitation”. The judges specified that this presumption must still be examined in court when the legitimate representatives of the people consider these conditions not to be satisfied.

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“While noting that the agreements in question do not give rise to legal obligations on the people of Western Sahara, the Court notes on the contrary that the second condition is not satisfied, since those agreements do not confer any rights or benefits on the people of Western Sahara, in particular in that such people do not receive any financial contribution for the exploitation of the natural resources of such territory or the waters adjacent to such territory under such agreements,” reads the ruling. In this case the presumption cannot be considered valid.

The people of Western Sahara

Western Sahara is a territory of approximately 266 thousand square kilometres, which borders Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria and the Atlantic Ocean. Its territory is predominantly desert and includes two distinct regions: Saquia el-Hamra to the north and Rio de Oro to the south. The people of Western Sahara, known as Saharawi, were born from the fusion between the local Berber-speaking populations and the Arab Ma’qil tribes, who invaded the northern part of Africa at the beginning of the 11th century and arrived, around the 13th century, , in Western Sahara and in Mauritania. After the end of Spanish colonization, a long dispute began over the division of this territory, claimed mainly by Morocco. Between 2020 and 2021, clashes and skirmishes reignited in the disputed territories between Rabat and the self-proclaimed independent communities.

Measures on agricultural products

At the same time the judges decided to maintain the measures provided for by the agreement on measures for the liberalization of agricultural products for a period of 12 months starting from today, “in consideration of the serious negative consequences that its immediate annulment would entail for the action outside the EU and for reasons of legal certainty”. Furthermore, the Court also ruled on the issue of identification and labeling of melons and tomatoes from Western Sahara and with a ruling found that “such labeling must indicate only Western Sahara as the country of origin of such goods, excluding any reference to Morocco, in order to avoid misleading consumers as to the true origin of such goods”.