Brussels, 11/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission and Morocco will resume their negotiations in Rabat on 18 July on a fisheries agreement between the two parties. The spokesperson for Commissioner for Fisheries Maria Damanaki asserted: “We are very positive” about making progress towards an agreement in this sixth round of talks. Discussions have been going on since February 2011.
Spain has been impatiently awaiting the conclusion of an EU-Morocco fisheries agreement and the subject was raised during the fisheries advisory committee meeting in Madrid on Monday 8 July. According to the Spanish agency Europa Press: “This new round could end with the signing of a new agreement”. Quoting the commissioner, the agency asserted that “what is putting a brake on the negotiations between the two sides is neither financial nor technical. It is more of a political problem” connected to the question of the Sahara. “Rabat is turning a deaf ear” on the question of human rights in this contested territory. Andalusian ship-owners have indicated that delays to the conclusion of an agreement is creating a “real problem” for them because subsidies granted by the Spanish Department of Agriculture have been halted since 14 December 2012. 41 boats have had to remain tied up in port. (FB/transl.fl)