The European Union and Morocco will have to re-examine their trade agreements after an EU court annulled on September 29 an existing ruling that had been handed down by the European Council on agriculture and fisheries agreements with Rabat.
Despite the court’s decision, Morocco and Brussels both affirmed in a joint statement, that they remain fully mobilized in their effort to continue bilateral cooperation and united by their partnership agreements. Speaking on the EU’s behalf, the European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement issues, Oliver Varhelyi, said, “(Having been) in contact with (the) Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Abroad, Nasser Bourita, (and) after the decision of the European Union court, I emphasize that the partnership with Morocco is among the strongest for the EU…It is important to preserve this partnership, (to) consolidate and develop it with mutual trust and respect.”
The European Union has been steadfast in its commitment to strengthening what are already robust ties with Morocco. This has included going so far as to publicly declare that Brussels remains fully on board in its commitment to consolidate the Euro-Moroccan Shared Prosperity Partnership, which was launched in June 2019.
The European Union has said that it will continue to work to develop the multiple dimensions of this strategic partnership. In a joint statement that was released on September 29, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, and his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita, said: “We will take the necessary measures to ensure the legal framework that guarantees the continuation and stability of trade relations between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco…This equal partnership is also based on a solid bilateral relationship, based on trust and mutual respect, between the Kingdom of Morocco and the European Union, while at the same time contributing to the strengthening of this relationship. relationship and that with the (EU’s) member states.”
The decision by the European Union’s top court to cancel the 27-country bloc’s approval of agriculture and fishing agreements from Morocco’s Western Sahara region – a vast swathe of territory in the North African country’s extreme south – contradicted a 2020 European Commission report on the benefits of tariff preferences that are provided for in the EU-Morocco Association Agreement for products that originate from Western Sahara, an accord that first entered into force in July 2019.
The report showed that the agreement had been properly implemented and that both exports and employment figures had increased due to the granting of tariff preferences to Western Sahara under the agreement.
