The fisheries agreement between the EU and Morocco is due to expire on 17 July, which is a cause for concern for EU fishermen, especially those from Spain. This subject could be raised at the informal meeting of European fisheries ministers on 17 and 18 July in Vigo, Spain (see other news).
On 20 March this year, a number of EU fisheries ministers asked the European Commission to extend the validity of the protocol until the final decision of the EU General Court (see EUROPE 13146/10).
Morocco and the EU concluded a sustainable fisheries partnership agreement in March 2019, but its implementing protocol was annulled by the EU General Court in September 2021 due to the dispute over the disputed territory of Western Sahara. The former Spanish colony is controlled for the most part by Morocco, but claimed by the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front, supported by Algeria.
The Council of the EU has appealed against the ruling of the EU General Court, but the verdict is not expected before 2024, preventing the renewal of the four-year fisheries protocol (2019-2023), which expires on 17 July.
“We first need clarification of the decision (of the European courts)”, said Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for the Environment and Fisheries, on Tuesday 12 July, on the fringes of a meeting of EU energy ministers in Valladolid (Spain). “Our priority is to achieve an extension (of the protocol), but the situation is difficult because of the (EU) General Court’s decision”, admitted the Commissioner.
A meeting was held on Thursday 13 July in Brussels between Europeans and Moroccans as part of a joint committee on this bilateral fisheries agreement. The agreement allows 128 EU vessels (mainly from Spain) to fish in Moroccan waters. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)