Bir Lehlou (Sahrawi Republic), October 3, 2025 (SPS) – The POLISARIO Front issued an official statement on Friday evening strongly condemning the new agreement concluded between the Council of the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco, which extends tariff preferences to products originating from the occupied Western Sahara.
The statement, a copy of which was received by the SPS, stressed that this agreement, intended to replace the 2018 deal annulled by explicit rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union, constitutes a blatant violation of international law and a direct breach of judicial decisions concerning the occupied territory.
It further recalled that, as early as 2016, the European Court of Justice had ruled that Western Sahara is a territory separate and distinct from Morocco, requiring the consent of the Sahrawi people for any agreement affecting it. This principle was reaffirmed in the October 2024 rulings, which explicitly recognized the POLISARIO Front’s capacity to represent the Sahrawi people and defend their sovereign rights before the European courts.
On the basis of these well-established legal principles, the POLISARIO Front reaffirmed that the new agreement is unlawful and declared its resolve to use all appropriate legal means to challenge it and to safeguard the rights and resources of the Sahrawi people.
The following is the full text of the statement as received by the SPS:
Press Release
The POLISARIO Front strongly condemns the new EU-Morocco agreement and announces that it will use all appropriate means to ensure that the sovereign rights of the Sahrawi people are respected
Bir Lehlou, [03/10/2025] – According to an official publication released today, the Council of the EU has decided to sign, with provisional application, a new agreement with the Kingdom of Morocco on tariff preferences for products originating in occupied Western Sahara. This agreement is intended to replace the 2018 agreement, which was annulled by the European Court of Justice. As the sole representative of the Sahrawi people, the POLISARIO Front strongly rejects this new agreement, which is contrary to international law and directly violates the Court's rulings.
In its judgment of December 21, 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that Western Sahara constitutes a separate and distinct territory from the Kingdom of Morocco, and that any agreement applicable to it must receive the consent of the Sahrawi people, regardless of the alleged benefits. In its judgments of October 4, 2024, whilst reaffirming the centrality of Sahrawi consent as the sole condition for the validity of any act of the European Union affecting Western Sahara, the Court this time explicitly recognized the capacity of the POLISARIO Front to take legal action to defend the sovereign rights of the Sahrawi people over their national territory and natural resources, based on international law.
Given the strength of the principles established by the Court in its case law, the illegality of the new agreement is blatant. Negotiated in five days, without the knowledge of the Sahrawi people, it was adopted by force with a written procedure to compel Member States, with provisional application to disarm the European Parliament and present it with a fait accompli. Essentially, the choice made was to amend EU law to adapt it to the illegal occupation of Western Sahara by the Kingdom of Morocco. This has led to the invention of the concept of “region of origin,” an unprecedented departure from the universally accepted concept of “country of origin,” while the Commission has committed to supporting the Moroccan agro-industry through the direct financing of desalination plants in the occupied territory. In the short term, this means the destruction of European agricultural sectors, which are already facing great difficulties due to the current volume of exports, and to which the Sahrawi people have always been opposed. With this new agreement, the EU is providing the Moroccan occupier with the means to maintain its illegal presence in the occupied territory through repression and systematic violations of fundamental rights, thereby perpetuating its war of colonial aggression against the Sahrawi people.
Instead of opening direct negotiations with the POLISARIO Front, which was the only way to ensure compliance with the Court's rulings, the European Commission persists in acting unlawfully, condemning the EU to repeat the mistakes of the past. But this brutal approach is in fact an admission of great weakness in the face of the Moroccan occupier's nervousness as it seeks to gain a few more months, when everyone knows that European involvement is a dead end, rejected by the Court's rulings.
Bolstered by the 2024 rulings that protect the Sahrawi people's access to European justice, the POLISARIO Front announces that it will pursue all appropriate legal avenues with determination and discernment. Recognizing the progress made since 2012, the Sahrawi people approach this new phase with the utmost serenity. In the meantime, as the ratification process begins, the POLISARIO Front solemnly calls on the European authorities, on behalf of the Sahrawi people, to reject the conclusion of this new agreement, which violates the right to self-determination and destabilizes the UN process by encouraging the Moroccan occupier in its headlong rush forward. In Western Sahara, as elsewhere, any lasting peace requires respect for the UN Charter and international law.” (SPS)
090/500/60 (SPS)
Related blogs
