With Barroso’s visit to Rabat last week, the European Commission has officially commenced its talks with Morocco on a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA); a large-scale trade deal that will substantially deepen the Union’s already tight-knit trade ties with Morocco.
Though geared at facilitating the gradual integration of Morocco’s economy into the EU’s single market, the DCFTA is likely to drag occupied Western Sahara into the equation. So far, the EU has neglected to exclude the occupied territory from its trade deals with Morocco – thereby backing up Morocco’s untenable claims to its southern neighbour and undermining the UN peace process it claims to neutrally support.
Through intensifying trade with and investment opportunities in Morocco, European businesses risk becoming part of the protracted conflict if enticed to undertake commercial activities in a territory that the UN still classifies as a colony.
The Commission’s move to launch the DCFTA talks at this time is off-base. Just last week, it became public that the Frente Polisario has filed a law suit against the Council of the European Union at the European Court of Justice over the EU-Morocco agricultural agreement, for failing to exclude Western Sahara.
According to Reuters, trade between the EU and Morocco amounted up to approximately 24 billion euros in 2011, and the EU is keen to open up trade in the services sector. Morocco is also the largest recipient of European neighbourhood aid, with 580.5 million euros earmarked for 2011-2013.
Last year, 31 Saharawi civil society organisations from occupied Western Sahara and the Saharawi refugee camps in Algeria wrote a letter to the European Commission, requesting the exclusion of their country from the geographical application of the DCFTA. The European Commission has not consulted them so far in the process.
One of the richest coastlines in the world
The fish stocks of occupied Western Sahara have not only attracted the interest of the Moroccan fleet: other foreign interests are also fishing in the occupied waters through arrangements with Moroccan counterparts. Along the Western Saharan coastline, a processing industry has emerged.
The CJEU Court Cases
Keeping track of the many legal proceedings relating to Western Sahara is not easy. This page offers an overview of the cases concerning the territory that have been before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
Tūhana human rights advisors ignore human rights
A consultancy hired to assess phosphate imports from occupied Western Sahara into New Zealand concludes there is no problem.
MEPs push back on Commission over Western Sahara in EU–Morocco trade
MEPs from across the political spectrum sharply criticised the European Commission over its handling of EU-Morocco trade relations covering occupied Western Sahara, raising concerns over legality, transparency and an apparent disregard for Parliament’s role.