London, 31 July 2025 (SPS) – The Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) has warned the European Union (EU) against any attempts to bypass the rulings of its Court of Justice, which definitively invalidated two 2019 free trade agreements on fisheries and agriculture concluded with Morocco and unlawfully extended to occupied Western Sahara.
"EU institutions now face a choice: uphold the rule of law or facilitate practices that openly defy it. Their actions could reveal not only the EU’s stance on the rights of the people of Western Sahara but also the integrity of its own judicial system," said Sara Eyckmans, a member of the Observatory.
On October 4, 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) definitively annulled two 2019 trade agreements between Morocco and the EU concerning fisheries and agriculture, which had been illegally applied to occupied Western Sahara.
In its ruling, the court concluded that "the 2019 EU-Morocco trade agreements on fisheries and agricultural products, implemented without the consent of the people of Western Sahara, were concluded in violation of the principles of self-determination and the relative effect of treaties."
Regarding the agreement on trade liberalization for agricultural products, the court allowed a 12-month transitional period before its full annulment takes effect.
With just three months left before the agreement’s termination, reports suggest that "secret discussions" are underway between EU and Moroccan trade representatives to identify ways to circumvent international law concerning Western Sahara.
"Behind-the-scenes negotiations are quietly taking place in Brussels. Their goal? To find a political workaround to the CJEU rulings that declared these agreements invalid without the consent of the people of Western Sahara," WSRW stated on its website.
Citing an international media report, the NGO revealed that European and Moroccan officials are "testing legal gray zones" to maintain trade flows from the occupied territory despite the court’s decisions.
The two sides are reportedly exploring "financial mechanisms" to secure at least the "presumed consent" required by the CJEU for the legality of such agreements.
However, WSRW notes that the EU’s top court has set additional conditions that appear "unlikely to be met."
"The CJEU rulings are not about redistributing economic benefits. They are fundamentally about respecting the right to self-determination of the people of Western Sahara. This means, for example, that applying 'presumed consent' would require Morocco to acknowledge Western Sahara as a separate and distinct territory where it cannot act as a sovereign power," WSRW clarified.
"It is inconceivable that Morocco would accept this in exchange for reduced tariffs on products from occupied Dakhla."
Furthermore, "the legal durability of such measures remains uncertain, especially since the Polisario Front—recognized by EU courts as the legitimate representative of the people of Western Sahara—could challenge these frameworks again," the NGO warned.
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