Brussels, October 03, 2018 (SPS) -Vice Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET), Anders Primdahl Vistisen highlighted the non-recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara under the debate on the EU-Morocco draft agreement aiming at broadening tariff preferences to products from Western Sahara.
“This agreement does not imply recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara,” affirmed Danish EU MP Vistisen in his draft opinion submitted to the Committee on International Trade of the European Parliament.
“EU’s position remains that of supporting UN efforts to secure a fair, lasting and mutually acceptable settlement of the Western Sahara conflict, on the basis of the right to self-determination of the Sahrawi people and in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions,” wrote Vistisen.
The text also recalls some fundamental principles in favour of the Sahrawi cause, namely the need “to give guarantees regarding respect for international law, including human rights, in the territories concerned.”
In the same connection, Vistisen “takes good note of the exchange of letters and acknowledges the efforts of the Commission and the EEAS in trying, within the remit of their competences, to evaluate the benefit for the population and to ascertain their consent to this agreement.”
It is worth recalling that in addition to the European Parliament's Agriculture and Foreign Affairs Committees, the Fisheries Committee will give its opinion soon.SPS
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