Requesting an opinion from the Court of Justice on the compatibility with the Treaties of the Protocol on the EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Agreement

The European Parliament rejected by 221 votes to 302, with 30 abstentions, a resolution, drafted on the basis of an initiative presented by 77 Members, requesting an opinion from the Court of Justice on the compatibility with the Treaties of the Protocol on the EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Agreement. A new Protocol setting out the fishing opportunities and financial compensation provided for in the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco was signed on 13 July 2011. The application of the new Protocol extends to the waters off the coast of Western Sahara, which has been on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories since 1963.

According to the Members who backed the motion for a resolution, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling would dispel legal uncertainty as to whether the new Protocol complies with international law as regards the socio-economic interests of the Non-Self-Governing Territory of Western Sahara and the exploitation of its natural resources, and thus as to whether the new Protocol is compatible with the Treaties in this respect.