Brussels, 22/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - Gilles Pargneaux MEP (S&D, France), the chairman of the EU-Morocco Friendship Group at the European Parliament, has given his support to Morocco in response to the UN proposal (encouraged by the US) to expand the United Nations Mission for?the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) mandate to human rights, on which the different bodies dealing with this issue within the UN are due to come to a decision this week.
In a statement to the Moroccan agency, MAP, Pargneaux affirmed: “I have made several visits to Morocco's southern provinces” and, “on a number of different occasions, I was able to observe that human rights are being respected in the Sahara region”. The parliamentarian added that, “in a particularly unstable Arab world, Morocco distinguishes itself by its modernity and its democratic process, which could serve as a model for many Arab countries”.
The conflict in the Sahara has provoked conflicting reactions at the European Parliament and is affecting Euro-Moroccan cooperation in fisheries, to the great consternation of the Spanish, whose boats are unable to work. Charles Tannock (EPP, United Kingdom), a member of the EP's foreign affairs committee, is currently drawing up a report on security in the Sahel (waiting for a first reading), which is expected to tackle the controversial subject of the Sahara. The S&D group is preparing to send a fact-finding mission to this zone.
This affair is currently causing a lot of ructions in Morocco, which, according to local media, has been undertaking huge diplomatic efforts, sending out high-level delegations to the major capitals to argue for the UN mission's mandate expansion to be rejected.
According to sources in Rabat, the European Commissioner, Stefan Füle, in charge of neighbourhood policy, is planning to visit the country soon. This visit has been confirmed by Brussels but is said not to have any direct link with the above matter. The European commissioner is expected to travel to Morocco sometime this week. His visit, however, had been put back by Morocco, due to a concurrent visit to the country by the French president. (FB/transl.fl)