EU-Morocco Agreement Threatens the Peaceful Settlement in Western Sahara

Participants in a seminar held at the European Parliament on Wednesday warned of the repercussions of the recent trade agreement between Morocco and the European Union on the future of the UN-led political settlement in Western Sahara and on the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination.

They emphasised that this agreement undermines UN efforts to resolve the Western Sahara conflict. In his intervention during this conference entitled “The Impact of the New EU-Morocco Agreement on the Future of a Peaceful Settlement in Western Sahara,” Abi Bouchraya Bachir, Special Advisor to the Sahrawi President in charge of Natural Resources and Related Legal Issues, explained that the meeting aimed to respond to the European Commission’s claim that the agreement is “purely economic and has no political repercussions.”

He explained that the claim that this type of agreement has no political repercussions on the settlement process is a “major fallacy,” because these agreements only serve Morocco and help it consolidate its illegal military occupation of Western Sahara through economic means and attempts to impose a fait accompli.

The Sahrawi official emphasised that the current agreement inflicts significant harm on the Sahrawi people, particularly concerning their right to self-determination. This includes both the right to sustainable sovereignty over natural resources and the territorial integrity of the territory, which would be achieved by incorporating it into the Kingdom of Morocco. This contradicts the legal status of the territory and the rulings of the European Court of Justice, which affirm that “the Kingdom of Morocco and Western Sahara are two distinct and separate territories.”

This also entails the same source added, “a negative impact on the third element of self-determination, which pertains to the Sahrawi people’s right to determine the final status of the territory, and conversely, it assists Morocco in promoting its narrative of imposing a colonial fait accompli.”

Abi Bouchraya Bachir highlighted the positive result of the vote held on November 26, 2025, to reject the agreement by objecting to the labelling of Sahrawi products as stipulated in the new agreement. The resolution was passed by a majority vote, despite being blocked by a single vote.

He noted that the vote “encourages us to press on with the fight, relying on the large majority we have formed in Parliament to defeat the agreement—a battle we have no choice but to win.”

For his part, Andreas Schieder (Austria), Chair of the European Parliament’s Group of Friends of the Sahrawi People, stressed in his intervention that “the time has come to resolve the Western Sahara conflict and end the suffering of the Sahrawi people by enabling them to exercise their right to self-determination.” He noted that Europe must play a “significant role” in this, and warned that the recent trade agreement has exacerbated the crisis instead of contributing to a solution.

For her part, MEP Ana Miranda (Spain) expressed her hope that the agreement would be rejected by the European Parliament when it is put to a vote.

Pierre Galand, President of the European Coordination of Solidarity with the Sahrawi People (EUCOCO), affirmed in his address that “winning the bet on the Sahrawi people’s sovereignty over their natural resources is a central point in the work of European solidarity, as demonstrated at the 49th session of the European Coordination recently held in Paris.”

He asserted that the European Solidarity Movement would accompany the European Parliamentary Group through the upcoming stages to win this battle and defeat the agreement, thus confirming legitimacy from within the “legislative and popular authority” in Europe.