Disarray is prevailing in the Polisario camp, following Brussels’ steadfastness against the attempts by Algeria and the separatist front to disrupt the European Union’s strategic partnership with Morocco.
The adoption on Monday by Brussels of two proposals adapting the Morocco-EU association agreement and the farm agreement to the inclusion of Western Sahara, shattered the efforts made for months by Algiers and the Polisario to put into question the legal basis of the accords between Morocco and the EU.
The frustration of Algerian and Polisario leaders is all the greater that their intense lobbying has not prevented Brussels from adopting these texts extending preferential tariffs to products from the Sahara. The new texts thus reinforce the legal basis of the agreements after the judgment of the EU Court of Justice of December 2016.
Obviously, the European Commission did not make these decisions out of the blues. The EU executive body explains how it consulted local representatives, civil society activists and other relevant organizations and entities in the Sahara region. These consultations have shown broad support for the farm agreement given the socio-economic benefits it offers the local population.
Moreover, in a recent evaluation report, the European Commission had provided sufficient indications showing that the economic activity generated by exports to the European Union is beneficial to the local population, particularly at the level of job creation.
It is worth noting that Brussels does not recognize any representativeness to the Algeria-backed Polisario, while the European executive constantly and repeatedly welcomes the “enriching and multidimensional partnership” that has been binding the EU and Morocco for nearly half a century.
Besides, given this partnership, Morocco was granted an advanced status in 2008.
