Brussels (Belgium), Feb 21, 2016 (SPS) - The decision of the European Union Committee on International Trade to postpone "all procedures relating to the agreement with the EU on the protection of geographical indications and designations of the origin of agricultural products, processed products, fish and fisheries products coming from the occupied Sahrawi territories," was a new slap in the face for Morocco.
The new developments in EU-Morocco relations follow the examination of the draft opinion submitted by the Euro-deputy
Peter van DALEN of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group on the conclusion of such an agreement between the EU and Morocco.
In his address, the Rapporteur underlined that the status of Western Sahara is closely related to the question of the respect for human rights and that following the cancellation by the EU court of Justice on 10 December 2015 of the EU-Morocco agreement on agricultural and fish product trade liberalization, it is necessary to wait for clarifications on the legal consequences of the cancellation.
Despite the forcing of the Committee's head, French Euro-deputy Alain CADEC, the European deputies underlined that the question of the occupied Western Sahara is a key issue to the future debates on the agreement with Morocco on the protection of geographical indications.
In this regard, the Euro-deputies strongly insisted on "the need to take into consideration of the human-rights dimension in the conclusion of any agreement with Morocco, especially in terms of impact on the Sahrawi population, in order to prevent possible legal proceedings and other appeals for annulment. (SPS)
062/090/TRA