Spain wants to quickly turn the page on the European fishing and agricultural agreements with Morocco canceled last day 4 by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which recognized the right of the people of Western Sahara, under Moroccan control for almost half a century, to use their natural resources. “We have the will to look forward, to the future,” proclaimed this Friday in Rabat the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas. Former ambassador to Morocco and to the EU, Planas was the first member of the Government to travel to the Moroccan capital following a European ruling that was celebrated by the Polisario Front, which defends the independence of the former Spanish colony. “Anyone who tries to put a stop to close relations with Morocco is wrong” through the ruling of the Luxembourg judges, he warned after meeting with his Moroccan counterpart, Ahmed Buari, within the framework of a Euro-Mediterranean meeting of Agriculture Ministers.
Joint ventures
“The important thing is the will to find solutions for the future, on a constructive and mutually decided basis,” emphasized Planas, who said he was analyzing “optimistically” the consequences of the CJEU ruling. Sources familiar with the Spanish fishing sector that operates in waters under Moroccan control have indicated that after the protocol governing the EU fishing agreement with Morocco expired in July 2023, some mixed companies have been created, with at least 51% Moroccan capital with Spanish companies in the sector. “We believe that there are possibilities to develop cooperation,” the Spanish minister simply responded when asked about possible formulas to overcome the obstacles posed by the European ruling. Spanish-Moroccan relations “are based on mutual trust and the search for concrete solutions to each issue that arises,” the minister stressed.
The setback by European justice against Morocco also affected the institutions of the Union, which had expressed their rejection of the sentences handed down in 2021 by the General Court of the EU, as well as a boost to the Polisario Front. The high European court thus endorsed the European first instance ruling that canceled the agreements signed between Morocco and the EU. It was then determined that they involved trading in products from Western Sahara, which meant deploying their effects on a territory that the international community does not recognize as part of Morocco. Furthermore, he stressed that the consent of the Sahrawi people, as a third party involved, was not obtained for these agreements. The CJEU established that the agreements with Morocco were concluded “in violation of the principle of self-determination”, since the people of the Sahara did not give their consent, which was a condition of validity in the “non-autonomous territory (pending decolonization, according to the UN) ”.
Planas highlighted the “trust on the political, diplomatic, security, immigration and economic levels” with Morocco, of which Spain is the first Moroccan trading partner. Given the new European legislature and the immediate entry into office of the Commission, the elections of June 9 arose. In Rabat, the minister defended “facing new challenges with great solutions and working together on security, trade, and immigration.” “The European Council on the 17th was very clear in its conclusions,” he stressed. “The European Council and the Foreign Ministers are the ones who decide European foreign policy, and the association with Morocco is strategic and will continue to deepen in the future.”
