Monday, 9 December 2013 - Strasbourg

Debate

Madam President, Morocco invaded and militarily occupied the territory of Western Sahara and has no legal title to dispose of Western Sahara’s natural resources. The EU should not be an accomplice to a colonial robbery.

If Morocco and the Commission had intended to take into account the reason behind Parliament’s rejection of the fisheries agreement, they would have included in it the need for Morocco to give to the Sahrawi people the revenues coming from the exploitation of their waters. Otherwise they could have excluded from the agreement the waters of Western Sahara, following the example of the US Congress and US Government, which do not include Western Sahara in any economic agreement with Morocco.

None of that has happened. The text of the agreement contains only a generic and hypocritical reporting obligation for the Kingdom of Morocco on respect for human rights in international law. Morocco does not have the slightest credibility in this regard as it continues to practice torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, along with targeted assassination and political persecution in the occupied territories. I reiterate therefore my earlier invitation to vote against this shameful agreement.

(The speaker agreed to take a blue-card question under Rule 149(8)).

[source:www.europarl.europa.eu]