Morocco’s foreign minister Nasser Bourita made it clear that the verdict delivered by the European Court of Justice on the Morocco-EU fisheries agreement does not challenge the Kindgom’s political legitimacy to sign with the EU agreements covering the Sahara. “The ECJ abstained from endorsing the conclusions of its adviser,” he said, noting that the verdict did not challenge the validity of the deal. Bourita stressed that the ECJ verdict does not bring into question the legitimacy of Morocco to negotiate agreements with the EU covering the Sahara, noting that the EU court only specifies that the Sahara should be simply mentioned in future deals. The ECJ verdict had neither spoken of the Polisario as a representative of the Sahrawi people nor recognized the Algerian-backed SADR, the minister went on to say. Bourita concluded the interview reiterating that the Sahara is an indivisible part of the Kingdom’s territory.

Source: The North Africa Journal February 27, 2018 19:18 UTC