Interviewed by the media in his country ("Afrique-Asie"), the Algerian ambassador in Brussels, Ammar Belani, said that, without being "party to the legal proceedings" that are ongoing in the European legal system and that pit the Polisario against the Council of the EU, the European Commission and a number of EU member states (see EUROPE 11623), Algeria "is following [ the file] with interest" and "is assessing the conclusions of the advocate general published on 13 September 2016".
"These conclusisions must primarily be assessed from the angle of international law" and "they are a major step forwards that will undoubtedly be reflected, in one way or another, through a more coherent position of the European Union on the issue of the Western Sahara", he said. Indeed, the ambassador states that the advocate general "gave a clear opinion in favour of the inapplicability of the agreements concluded by Morocco with the EU on the territory of the Western Sahara" , and this is "a turning point".
Belani believes that the arguments that have been given "sweep away the fiction of a Morocco that is 'the de facto administrative authority' which is used too conveniently by some European leaders". From the ambassador's point of view, the EU "must adopt a position more in line with international law". In Belani's opinion, "the EU's stated ambition of assuming the role of global actor in the region should also be illustrated by a more assertive position with regard to restoring the MINURSO mandate [United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara] and, especially, with regard to firmly setting the two parties, the Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco, on the path of direct negotiations, without any pre-conditions". (Original version in French by Fathi B'Chir)