Brussels, 16/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - Spain is hoping for speedy ratification of the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement signed in July this year. The Sahrawi, for their part, are doing everything they can to have the deal rejected by the European Parliament.
The EFE press agency reports that Miguel Arias Cañete, the Spanish minister for agriculture, food and the environment, has called on the political parties to rally together to promote the agreement and win the EU's rapid endorsement of the text, a first casting of which was rejected by the European Parliament end 2011.
Cañete trusts that the European assembly will take the interests of Community fisheries into consideration, especially the Spanish fishing sector in this case. The speedy action he is hoping for is all the more important as the normal ratification procedure generally last several months and the minister is concerned that, since the agreement was reached one and a half years ago, things have been at a standstill. In his letter to the elected representatives of his country, Cañete states that he hopes the other member states will be made more aware of the importance of this.
Sahrawi organisations, stating they represent the fishermen of Dakhla, indicate through a similar communication campaign aimed at MEPs that the agreement respects neither international law nor the fact that the region that has been left in a poorer state through over-exploitation, nor the political will of the Sahrawi.
Moroccan media (especially Yabiladi) said on 31 August (our translation) that “a delegation from the European Parliament visited the Western Sahara from 27 to 29 August. Headed by the deputy to the special rapporteur for human rights, Jonathan Lis, the delegation held talks with political and associative players of the region, unionists and above all those supporting independence of the province”. The daily underlines that, “for once, the MEPs even had discussions with four representatives of the associations active in the fisheries sector at the port of Dakhla. For 30 minutes, the latter complained of what they called the 'pillaging of Saharan resources' by Morocco. The delegation also met members of the Gdim Izik coordination and qualified unemployed and an NGO of independent journalists in Ladyoune”. (FB/transl.jl)