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The European Union Foreign Affairs Council adopted, Monday in Brussels, a decision aiming at adapting the Association Agreement and the agriculture agreement concluded with Morocco to include Western Sahara, a European source told MAP news agency on Monday.
According to the same source, the measure goes hand in hand with the Court of Justice of the European Union’s decision issued in December 2016, regarding the Association and Liberalization Agreements concluded between the EU and Morocco. The latter will grant preferences to products from Western Sahara.
The decision, hence, reinforces the legal basis for exporting products coming from the Kingdom’s southern provinces with trade preferences and promotes the development of the regions, added MAP’s source.
The decision of the EU Foreign Ministers, which will be submitted to the European Parliament for adoption, will help enable the EU «to strengthen partnership with Morocco and pave the way for the fisheries agreement in the coming months», the same source explained.
Le Conseil des ministres des Affaires étrangères des pays membres de l’#UnionEuropéenne (#UE) a adopté, aujourd’hui à #Bruxelles, sa décision portant adaptation de l’accord d’association et de l’accord agricole avec le #Maroc de nature à inclure expressément le #SaharaMarocain pic.twitter.com/Uj57nclmuT
— MAECI Maroc ?? (@MarocDiplomatie) July 16, 2018
The news was confirmed by the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation through a tweet later that day.
The Polisario condemns the decision
On the same day, the Polisario Front condemned the decision in a communiqué made public by its «news agency» SPS.
«In a response to this decision, the Polisario Front calls on the European Parliament to assume all its responsibilities and to reject this illegal proposal of the Commission», wrote SPS, quoting the separatist movement’s press release.
The Front has even gone further than that, stating that «if the transition to force is to prevail, [it] will have only to attack this decision at CJEU».
Moreover, the Polisario Front decided to lodge an appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union for «the harm caused to the Sahrawi people», said the same source.
For the record, the European Commission adopted on July the 11th two proposals, amending the EU-Morocco Association Agreement which entered into force in March 2000.
In a press release, the two proposals aim to «respect the Court’s ruling and clarify the status of products from Western Sahara for preferential tariff treatment when imported into the EU».
For the commission the draft agreement proposes that «products originating from Western Sahara which are subject to the control of the Moroccan custom authorities benefit from the same commercial preferences granted by the EU to products covered by the association agreement».
