The European Court of Justice has announced that it will deliver its ruling on October 4th regarding an appeal against the annulment of a fisheries agreement between the European Union and Morocco.
The appeal was filed by the Council of the European Union following a previous ruling by the Court in September 2021 that declared the agreement invalid.
The decision sparked widespread debate within political and legal circles, as the outcome is seen as crucial for the future of economic cooperation between the EU and Morocco, particularly in the fisheries and trade sectors.
Hespress Ar sources have revealed that the EU institutions’ appeal centers on overturning the previous ruling, which the Council and Commission consider a “precedent-setting error.”
These EU institutions say that the initial judgment was based on legal challenges brought by the Polisario Front, which claimed to represent the population of the southern regions in legal disputes.
The sources further added that the EU institutions have strongly defended the legitimacy of trade agreements concluded with Morocco, asserting that the Polisario Front lacks the legal standing to represent the Sahrawi people in this matter.
The EU institutions contend that the previous ruling contradicts established legal and diplomatic norms.
Following the Advocate General’s opinion, Morocco urged the European Union to uphold its partnership with the Kingdom, holding the EU and its member states fully responsible for safeguarding this partnership from political provocations and maneuvers.
Despite the tensions surrounding this issue, the EU seeks to preserve its longstanding bilateral cooperation with Morocco, especially in the economic and trade spheres, and the southern regions of Morocco constitute a significant part of this collaboration.
On July 17, 2023, the fisheries agreement protocol between Morocco and the European Union, initially signed in early 2019, expired.
Under the terms of this protocol, Morocco received an annual payment of 208 million euros in exchange for allowing approximately 128 European fishing vessels to operate in its Atlantic territorial waters.
The annual catch under this agreement typically ranged between 80,000 and 100,000 metric tons.
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