The Polisario Front demands that the European Commission include it in the trade negotiations with Morocco

The Polisario Front demands that the European Commission include it in potential trade negotiations with Morocco following the ruling of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) that annulled the agreements on fishing and agricultural products for not having the express consent of the Western Sahara, whose territory was affected by them. The Luxembourg judges ruled that the support of the Sahrawi people for these pacts “cannot be presumed” and that the right to self-determination was violated.

“This ruling is an opportunity for the EU to have a definitive position on this problem based on its own legality,” said Omar Mansur, representative of the Polisario Front for the EU, who has called on the European Commission to include the organization in the conversations. “The Polisario has offered so that the European Commission can, when it considers it necessary and on the basis of the latest ruling, negotiate with the Polisario on this issue and we will surely find formulas and mechanisms for all those interested in being able to participate,” he said. aggregate.

In a press conference with MEPs Vincent Marzá (Compromís), Jaume Asens (Commons) and Estrella Galán (Sumar) after participating in a meeting in the European Parliament about that sentence, Mansur assured that the Polisario Front “is open to that these negotiations can take place at any time without any type of preconditions.”

The European Commission reacted to the CJEU ruling with an absolutely conciliatory tone towards Morocco. “The European Commission firmly intends to preserve and continue to strengthen the close relationship with Morocco in all aspects of the EU-Morocco partnership in accordance with the principles of ‘pacta sunt servanda’,” said the then Foreign Affairs spokesperson. The fear of the Sahrawi representatives is that they will find a surreptitious way to reach a new agreement that leaves them on the sidelines given that the ruling itself establishes that Sahrawi consent can be presumed when the agreement does not generate obligations and does generate precise and clear advantages for Western Sahara.

Both the representative of the Polisario Front and the MEPs who hosted the conference have shown anger at Pedro Sánchez’s change regarding the Spanish position on the Sahara by establishing Morocco’s “autonomy” proposal as the “most serious, realistic and credible” for the solution of the conflict contrary to what the UN resolved, which contemplates a “mutually acceptable solution” for both parties.

Mansur has charged against the PSOE and Sánchez for “not respecting” their “role assigned by the United Nations as an administrative power” nor their “public opinion and that of their people, nor that of Spanish democracy, which has clearly expressed its support for the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination.” “We do not understand so much hatred or so much revenge if possible or so much following of Morocco itself,” denounced the representative of the Polisario Front.

Among their criticisms they have mentioned the socialists’ refusal to create an intergroup for Western Sahara that has existed in other legislatures. Intergroups are forums for the informal exchange of views on specific issues between different political groups and for facilitating contact between MPs and civil society, according to the European Parliament. “We do not understand the cruelty with which any instrument or any person belonging to the Socialist Group continues to be used to attack the Sahrawis even in the European Parliament, even in something that is a dialogue mechanism,” said Manur.

From the PSOE they explain that the social democrats stipulated seven group priorities for the formation of these intergroups and that, in terms of foreign policy, the intergroup on Palestine and Israel and another on Diversity and Racism were prioritized.