Brussels, 5 December 2021 (SPS) - The Polisario Front representative in Europe and the European Union (EU), Oubbi Bouchraya Bachir, deplored Friday the appeal of the Council of the European Union against the rulings of the European Court that annulled the new EU-Moroccan agreements that illegally included the part of Western Sahara under Moroccan occupation.
"Faced with the clear rejection of its arguments by the Court, the EU Council had a duty to make the Kingdom of Morocco be reasonable. Logic then required opening negotiations with the Polisario Front to ensure the continuity of economic activities, with respect for Sahrawi consent, with the establishment of technical devices as it exists for other occupied territories located in the vicinity of the EU," Oubbi Bouchraya Bachir, a member of the Polisario Front's national secretary, told the press.
"Instead, the Council of the EU chooses the headlong rush, by appealing against the rulings of the EU Court", the Saharawi diplomat deplored, adding that the European Court of Justice (CJEU) "will therefore have to decide whether the annulments of the new EU-Moroccan agreements are in line with its jurisprudence on Western Sahara".
"The Polisario Front is not surprised, because it knows very well that the European leaders are unable to tell Morocco the truth, preferring that the decision be taken by the judges. This truth has been known to everyone since day one: the EU cannot include Western Sahara in its cooperation with the Kingdom of Morocco because this territory is not Moroccan, never having been so", specified Oubbi Bouchraya.
But, he said in the same context, "the Kingdom of Morocco denies this legal reality, and the EU, under French influence, is trying to buy time".
He added: "The weakness of the Council comes at a high cost to the Saharawi people. The failure to implement previous rulings has aggravated the situation on the ground, reinforcing the Moroccan occupier's sense of impunity, which has allowed it to resume the armed conflict, to the detriment of the peace process.
"The Sahrawi people, who are committed to the law and are peaceful, know that their enemies, during their struggle for the right to self-determination and independence, will put up all obstacles, and that is why they were not surprised by the appeal," he said.
"While, sooner or later, the European leaders will have to respect their obligations towards the Saharawi people, they seek to buy time by a delaying maneuver, and embark the EU in this procedure, the main purpose of which is to prolong the illegal occupation of Western Sahara ", also lamented the representative of the Polisario Front in Europe.
The Saharawi people "place all their trust in European justice as an essential component of the rule of law in Europe. There is no doubt that the just cause of the Saharawi people will eventually triumph", he concluded.
In two rulings on 29 September 2021, the EU Court annulled the new EU-Moroccan agreements that illegally included the part of Western Sahara under Moroccan occupation.
Following previous rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union in 2016 and 2018, the Court ruled that the new EU-Moroccan agreements were concluded in serious violation of international law, against the consent of the Saharawi people, it should be recalled. (SPS)
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