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Western Sahara: European deputies call for respecting CJEU’s decision

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Brussels, January 10, 2017 (SPS) - The members of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs called Monday, in Brussels, for the respect of the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) through the implementation of this judicial decision in which it concluded that the agreements of association and liberalisation between EU and Morocco are not applicable to Western Sahara.
“It is a CJEU’s decision which must be respected. We are in a State under rule of law and its first principle is to implement the decisions of justice,” said the chairman of this committee Elmar Brok, in an exchange of views with Nicholas Westcott, Middle East and North Africa executive director at the European External Action Service (EEAS).
In a decision made on 21 December 2016, CJEU concluded that the agreements of association and liberalisation between EU and Morocco are not applicable to Western Sahara because of the separate and distinct status guaranteed to the territory of Western Sahara in accordance with the charter of the United Nations and principle of the peoples’ self-determination.
The chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs exhorted the members of his committee to reflect on the consequences to be drawn from this decision and on ways enabling the United Nations process for the settlement of the conflict of Western Sahara to make a progress.
The European deputy Afzal Khan underlined the need to meet and discuss on “what the EU can do to resolve the conflict of Western Sahara.”
 
The Euro deputy Ivo Vajgl called on to discuss the “best ways to respect” CJEU’s decision, underlining that “Morocco is illegally occupying Western Sahara” and “violates human rights in these territories.”SPS
 
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