Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-05-15-Speech-1-159"
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"en.20060515.18.1-159"2
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"As regards the content of the fisheries agreement between the European Community and the Kingdom of Morrocco relating to the waters under its effective sovereignty, I should like to highlight, in broad terms, the opinions expressed by representatives of the fisheries sector. They believe that the conditions of this new agreement will bring restrictions, greater burdens and fewer benefits for fishermen, and will accordingly be extremely harmful.
Yet this agreement raises a more fundamental issue, namely respect for international law and the legitimate rights of the people of Western Sahara. Morocco is illegally occupying Western Sahara. According to United Nations resolutions, Morocco has no sovereignty over this territory nor, in turn, its natural resources. It also has no right to be the territory’s
or
administrative power, under the terms of the United Nations Charter. Morocco is very much the
illegal occupying power in Western Sahara, that is to say, its illegal colonial power.
Consequently, any agreement with Morocco that, ambiguously or otherwise, involves the exploitation of Western Sahara’s natural resources constitutes a clear violation of international law. The issue at stake, as the Polisario Front maintains, is whether the EU Member States will uphold international law and contribute towards a fair and lasting solution to the conflict involving respect for the Sahrawi people’s inalienable right to self-determination, or whether, by contrast, they will encourage injustice, aggression and the violation of human rights.
The inclusion in the agreement of clauses that say, in watered down form, that the European Community’s financial contribution should also be used to develop coastal fishing communities in Morocco and Western Sahara, as borne out in previous agreements, falls short of what is required and does not safeguard the rights of the Sahrawi people. If the intention really were to ensure that the Sahrawi people could enjoy the benefits of exploiting their fishing resources, the necessary conditions would be put in place to safeguard their interests and rights, by setting up a United Nations fund, for example.
We have therefore retabled two amendments, which, in line with international law, specifically exclude the waters off Western Sahara from the fisheries agreement before us, granting fishing possibilities only to Community fishermen in the waters falling within the sovereignty or jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Morocco, or in other words solely in the waters north of the 27°40' parallel.
Lastly, it is important to point out that although the Council and the Commission have, of their own volition, expressed serious concerns about this agreement, the Polisario Front, the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people, has not been consulted at any time during this process, and that is something we find appalling."@en1
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