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In a plenary session held, Wednesday, the European Parliament agreed, by a large majority in Strasbourg, to amend two acts in the Morocco-EU association agreement, extending tariff preferences to products originating from Western Sahara. The amendments were approved by 444 MEPs and rejected by 167 voters.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation welcomed the «European Parliament's decision, made today in a plenary session in Strasbourg and the Exchange of Letters concerning the Agricultural Agreement, concluded between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco», the ministry said in a statement sent to Yabiladi.
The agreement underlines «explicitly that agricultural and fishing products originating from the southern provinces can benefit from the same tariff preferences as those covered by the Association agreement», the same source added. The latter states that this new agreement «confirms that any agreement covering the Moroccan Sahara can only be negotiated and signed by the Kingdom of Morocco».
The Polisario’s reaction
The same thing was confirmed by the chairman of the EU-Morocco Friendship Group Gilles Pargneaux who wrote Wednesday that the vote was «a great victory». «Trade relations between the European Union and Morocco facilitate the economic development of the Sahara», he stated, adding that «thanks to tariff preferences granted by Europe, 7.7 billion Euros are saved for the people in the Sahara», said the French MEP.
This go-ahead granted by the European Parliament puts an end to the war declared between the representatives of the Kingdom and those of the Polisario. On the other hand, the Front might consider nocking on the Court of Justice of the European Union’s door. For the record, CJEU has already ruled that the Sahara must be excluded from trade agreements signed by Morocco and the European Union.
One day before the EU’s plenary session, the Polisario denounced the fact that «Saharwi territories do not benefit from the commercial benefits of the trade deal».
According to the Front, any «agreement concluded behind closed doors and which overrides the opinion of the people of Western Sahara (...) is null».
