The Moroccan Regime In A Frantic Bid To Circumvent European Justice

The Moroccan regime is making frantic efforts to convince the member states of the European Union to circumvent the decision of the European Court of Justice issued on October 4, 2024, in anticipation of the end of the deadline set by the European Court, which is one year, coinciding with October 4, 2025.

The final and conclusive decision of the European Court of Justice gave the member states of the Union one year to enable the concerned companies to manage their affairs before the definitive cessation of work on three trade agreements related to agriculture and fisheries between the Moroccan regime and the European Union. After one year, Europeans are prohibited from importing any agricultural or fishery product originating from the occupied Western Sahara, provided that its source is Morocco, based on the European Court’s decision which considers Western Sahara a territory not covered by Moroccan sovereignty.

In this regard, Moroccan media reports spoke of strenuous efforts being made by the foreign minister of the Alawi regime, through which he is playing his last possible cards to dissuade the European side from the decision to cease work on the agriculture and fisheries agreements between Rabat and Brussels. It quoted a statement by Bourita saying that “the problem” exists at the European level and not at the Moroccan regime’s level, and that Rabat will not agree to any trade partnership that does not include the territories of the occupied Western Sahara.

Bourita called on the European Union to “establish partnership with Morocco and defend it against blackmail and legal and economic harassment,” indicating that the ball is now in Brussels’ court. He stated that the Kingdom “is watching how the European Union will deal with these provocations, through the measures and policies it will take to deal with this reality.”

According to Rabat’s foreign minister, as stated on the Moroccan website “Al-Sahifa”, Rabat expects the European side to “establish partnership with Morocco and defend it against blackmail and legal harassment,” indicating that the Moroccan regime does not recognize the sovereign decision of the European Court of Justice, which ruled in a final and unappealable decision that the Kingdom of Morocco has no sovereignty over the Sahrawi territories.

Commenting on the desperate Moroccan maneuvers, diplomat Mostafa Zaghlash, in communication with “Al-Shorouk”, believes that the Moroccan regime is trying to exert pressure through political leverage to circumvent the decision of justice, which is a well-known behavior, indicating that Rabat does not differentiate between political and judicial, despite its awareness that the two authorities are governed by an unalterable constitutional principle.

Mostafa Zaghlash says: “The European Commission represents the executive branch of the European Union (governments), while the European Court of Justice is an independent judicial entity not subject to political influence on its decisions, as evidenced by the court’s decision issued about a year ago, contrary to the orientations of a number of European governments, which called for maintaining the fisheries and agriculture agreements.”

He added: “The decision originates from a judicial body and the problem originates from an executive body. However, the judiciary does not view the cases it handles with the same approach that governments advocate. There are considerations that strengthen the judiciary’s position, such as the United Nations considering the Sahrawi territory as a territory under the authority of a colonial power with duties, including protecting the resources of this territory, which should be enjoyed by the people who inhabit it.”

Therefore, the party that may be involved in violating the decision of justice will be subject to legal accountability, says diplomat Mostafa Zaghlash, whether it is an executive political body or a company that benefited from the agreement. He gave an example of the accountability faced by the Hungarian government, following the human rights violations in that country due to the mistreatment of migrants, because there is a law in the Union that emphasizes the protection of human rights.

The most dangerous weapon that can be used against the party that violates the decision of European justice is the weapon of financial aid from which the Moroccan regime benefits, because the European Union spends billions of euros in the form of funding for some sectors of economic activity in Morocco, says the diplomat, at a time when Rabat is in dire need of it.

The weapon of justice also remains activatable at any moment, whether by the Sahrawi government or by European associations and organizations active in the field of human rights, against any government or company that may try to violate the decision of justice, which makes the mission of the Moroccan regime’s foreign minister merely desperate attempts to circumvent a reality imposed by unalterable decisions.