European Parliament fisheries committee backs controversial agreement in spite of concerns

On 27 November, the European Parliament's fisheries committee voted in favour of a new EU-Morocco fisheries agreement. The Greens criticised the vote and the agreement, which would again give the EU the right to fish in Western Saharan waters despite the fact the government of Morocco has no right to trade the resources of Western Sahara (1) under international law.

Commenting after the vote, Green fisheries and human rights spokesperson Raül Romeva said: "MEPs on the fisheries committee have today voted to ignore international law in endorsing this agreement. The EU-Morocco fisheries agreement is the most shameful episode in the EU's neo-colonial fisheries policy. Under the agreement, the Moroccan government grants fishing rights to the EU fishing fleet to fish in the waters of Western Sahara, where it has no right to do so. We are now urging the European Parliament as a whole to reject this agreement, which is a blot on the foreign and fisheries policies of the EU."

(1) Western Sahara is recognised by the United Nations as a non-self-governing territory.

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