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The Court of Justice of the European Union has finally released a resolution in favor of Morocco. The EU institution ruled an «appeal», lodged in June 2018 by the Polisario’s lawyer Gilles Devers, «inadmissible».
The decision, which Yabiladi has taken a look at a copy of it, was taken on February the 8th and made public on February the 12th. The ruling was published on Tuesday, the same day that saw the adoption of the Morocco-EU fisheries agreement. The latter was voted by MEPs in a plenary session held in the European Parliament.
The Front’s complaint was intended to «annul the (European) Council’s decision adopted on April the 16th, 2018, and which authorizes the relaunching of negotiations between Morocco the European Union to amend the Fisheries Partnership Agreement and conclude a Protocol implementing said agreement».
Has the European Court of Justice changed its position ?
After examining the Polisario’s appeal for eight months, the Court of Justice of the European Union decided to reject it. Moreover, the judges ruled that the Brahim Ghali movement will have to pay for the Court’s costs.
It is clear that the court has changed its position regarding the case. Indeed, in February 27th, 2017, the court decided that the Fisheries agreement is valid but not applicable to Western Sahara.
«Taking account of the fact that the territory of Western Sahara does not form part of the territory of the Kingdom of Morocco, the waters adjacent to the territory of Western Sahara are not part of the Moroccan fishing zone referred to in the Fisheries Agreement», ruled the court.
On 10 December 2015, the same court annulled the Association Agreement concluded on March the 8th in 2012 between Morocco and the EU. The judges claimed that Brussels should have excluded Western Sahara from the trade protocol with the kingdom, arguing that the fate of the territory is still examined by the United Nations.
For the record, in its decision made public on the 21st of December 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union said that the separatist movement does not represent the «people of Western Sahara».
