Algiers, 28 July 2026 (SPS) – Oubi Boushraya Bashir, Adviser to the President of the Republic on Natural Resources and Related Legal Affairs, affirmed that the legal battle waged by the Sahrawi people to defend their sovereignty over their natural resources has achieved a series of historic victories before the European courts.
However, he said that the European Commission and the Council of the European Union continue, under pressure from Morocco, to seek ways to circumvent those rulings, in what he described as conduct that contradicts the very principles of the rule of law on which the European Union is founded.
He made these remarks on Tuesday during his presentation at the scientific symposium jointly organised by the Algerian National Institute for Comprehensive Strategic Studies and the Sahrawi Centre for Strategic Studies, held on Monday and Tuesday at the Institute's headquarters in Algiers. In his presentation, he reviewed the legal developments concerning Western Sahara's natural resources before the European courts between 2015 and 2024.
The Sahrawi diplomat stressed that this legal process has produced what he described as "an ascending series of legal achievements," beginning with the General Court of the European Union's 2015 judgment and culminating in the landmark ruling issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on 4 October 2024. The successive rulings have affirmed the Sahrawi people's sovereignty over the Territory's land, territorial waters, airspace, and products originating from Western Sahara. They have also reaffirmed that Western Sahara and Morocco are two separate and distinct territories, and that the Polisario Front is the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people, with legal standing before the European courts to defend their rights.
Oubi Boushraya Bashir noted that these judgments have established clear legal principles, foremost among them that any agreement involving Western Sahara or its natural resources cannot be considered lawful without the consent of the Sahrawi people, who possess the original and inalienable right to self-determination. He stressed that consultations conducted by the European Commission with entities or individuals within the Territory cannot substitute for the consent of the Sahrawi people themselves.
In this context, he strongly criticised what he described as the European Commission's and the Council of the European Union's persistent attempts to disregard European court rulings. He pointed out that, following each judicial decision, both institutions resumed negotiations with Morocco on new agreements covering Western Sahara, in what he characterised as an effort to circumvent the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union, despite their clarity and binding nature.
He considered that this conduct reveals a striking contradiction: the institutions of the European Union are failing to respect the very European law they are entrusted to uphold. He further maintained that Morocco's political pressure has played a central role in shaping this approach through the use of sensitive issues as leverage, particularly irregular migration, drug trafficking networks, and other security-related matters that influence European decision-making.
The speaker also addressed what he described as the European Commission's attempts to circumvent the October 2024 judgment by promoting the notion of the Sahrawi people's "implied consent." He considered that the Court of Justice had already rejected this interpretation by clearly distinguishing between the Sahrawi people, as the holders of the right to self-determination, and the Moroccan settlers residing in the Territory. Consequently, he said, any attempt to replace the consent of the Sahrawi people with consultations involving the Territory's inhabitants is incompatible with the European court's rulings.
He further revealed that the Polisario Front had promptly challenged the new agricultural agreement signed in 2025, noting that the case has now entered the written submissions stage before the European courts as part of the continuing legal effort to safeguard the Sahrawi people's sovereign rights.
In conclusion, Oubi Boushraya Bashir stated that the issue of natural resources has become one of the principal arenas in the struggle to uphold the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination. He emphasised that the legal gains achieved under international, African, and European law constitute both a legal and political barrier against attempts to legitimise what he described as the economic occupation of Western Sahara, while serving as an effective instrument to counter efforts to entrench the status quo and to affirm the Sahrawi people's permanent sovereignty over their natural resources.
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