EU court lands new blow on Morocco in Western Sahara saga
Produce from the disputed territory of Western Sahara must be labelled as the country of origin in the EU rather than Morocco, the EU’s top court was advised on Thursday (21 March).
The opinion by the European Court of Justice’s Advocate General Tamara Ćapeta is the latest twist in a long-running lawfare suit at the EU’s top court pitching the European Commission and Morocco against the Sahrawi independence movement.
The case was brought by Confédération paysanne, a French agricultural union, which had initially asked the French government to prohibit the importation of melons and tomatoes from Western Sahara, claiming that they were falsely labelled as originating from Morocco. The French government, which is one of Morocco’s main EU allies, refused.
In her opinion, Ćapeta stated that EU food labelling law requires Western Sahara to be indicated as the country of origin. Failure to do so "risks misleading EU consumers in their purchasing decisions."
Morocco which asserts its sovereignty over Western Sahara, has emerged as a key ally of the European Union on migration and regional security. In return, the EU commission is keen to offer improved trade and investment opportunities and political relations.
Previous cases successfully challenging the legality of EU-Morocco trade arrangements also encompassing Western Sahara have been brought on behalf of the Polisario Front, the Sahrawi independence movement.
However, these efforts have been complicated by the status of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony which the United Nations does not recognise as being part of Morocco.
The opinion issued by Ćapeta on Thursday was one of three relating to the EU’s trade deals with Morocco.
In the others, Ćapeta stated that the EU’s agreement with Morocco offering tariff and quota free access to its market, known as the preferential tariff agreement, is lawful because it "treats the territory of Western Sahara as separate and distinct from the Kingdom of Morocco", but struck down the EU’s fisheries pact with Morocco.
"The failure to treat the two territories separately may also have repercussions on the right of the people of Western Sahara to enjoy and benefit from their natural resources, including the fishing resources in the waters adjacent to that territory," stated Ćapeta.
Previous ECJ rulings have stated that EU-Morocco trade deals cannot apply to Western Sahara without their consent and that they should also directly benefit them.
In a bid to circumvent previous ECJ rulings, the EU Commission, with Morocco’s guidance, set up a ‘consultation’ process with business and civil society groups, none of which supported Sahrawi independence.
"The people of Western Sahara have no official or recognised representative to bring an action on their behalf. However, Front Polisario fights for one of the three possible outcomes of the right to self-determination of the people of Western Sahara: the creation of an independent State," said Ćapeta.
"Accordingly, Front Polisario should be viewed as reflecting the interests and wishes of (at least) part of the people of Western Sahara," she added.
The advocate general’s opinions are not legally binding on the EU’s top court, but they are usually followed in ECJ rulings.
Morocco has sustained a major lobbying operation in Brussels for several years aimed at strengthening its political influence and ties with the bloc.
However, EU-Morocco relations have also been mired in controversy.
Following an investigation by EUobserver into Morocco’s lobbying and the subsequent launch of an internal parliament probe into possible conflicts of interest involving several other MEPs, in 2018 French liberal Patricia Lalonde resigned from her post as rapporteur on the EU-Morocco trade pact.
Rabat was then alleged to have been at the heart of the Qatargate scandal which implicated several MEPs and parliamentary officials in taking money from Morocco, Qatar and Mauritania in return for political influence.