Expiry of the EU-Morocco agreement: European fleets leave Sahrawi territorial waters

European fishing fleets are due to leave the Saharawi territorial waters this Sunday in accordance with the latest decision of the European Court of Justice (CJEU) which excluded the waters adjacent to Western Sahara from the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement, while that the negotiations between the European Union (EU) and the Moroccan Kingdom for the renewal of this agreement have not yet succeeded.

The last protocol of this fisheries agreement came to an end on Saturday, July 14, 2018. According to the decision of the CJEU of last February, it is no longer applicable to the territorial waters of Western Sahara, because he did not respect the right of self-determination of the Saharawi people, in accordance with United Nations resolutions.

According to the decision of the European court, the inclusion of the Saharawi territory in the scope of the fisheries agreement "would violate several rules of international law, including the principle of self-determination."

The Court considered that in view of the fact that the territory of Western Sahara is not part of the territory of the Kingdom of Morocco, the adjacent waters of the territory of Western Sahara do not fall within the Moroccan fishing zone covered by the fisheries agreement.

The fishing agreement allowed some 126 vessels (including 90 Spanish), from 11 EU Member States, to operate in 6 different fishing categories.

In this context, the Secretary General of the Spanish Fisheries Confederation, Javier Garat, told the Spanish press this Sunday that European ships must leave the Moroccan and Saharawi territorial waters, saying that negotiations between the EU and the Morocco are in a state of blockage and may not lead to a new agreement.

For his part, the Spanish Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Luis Blanas, told Spanish television that the two sides failed to reach a "new agreement", stating that " it is still in the negotiation stage. "

After the expiry of the current agreement, the Spanish government provides assistance to the Spanish fleet, added the Minister of Agriculture.

According to the judgment of the CJEU, the negotiations must include more precise delimitations of the territory, asking the EU to require from Morocco the coordinates of the geographical areas covered by the agreement and to exclude all the territorial waters Sahrawi. APS