Brussels, 22/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - Somewhat unexpectedly, the European Parliament (EP) gave its backing (by 12 votes to eight, with one abstention) on Tuesday 22 November to extending the current protocol to the fisheries agreement between the EU and Morocco by one year to the end of February 2012. Spanish and French MEPs in particular pushed hard for approval. Rapporteur Carl Haglund (ALDE, Finland) had recommended not approving the extension of the agreement, given the negative ex post expert assessment (EUROPE No 10471). The plenary session vote on the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement will take place in December (at the session in Strasbourg, 12-15 December). Raül Romeva (Greens/EFA) said that, with this vote, the fisheries committee had allowed the interests of the Spanish and French fishing industries to be put ahead of respect for international law and the rights of the people of the Western Sahara. Many MEPs do not believe that this agreement between the EU-Morocco does not bring any benefit to the Sahrawi people. (LC/transl.rt)