EU Concerned as China and Morocco Explore Fisheries Agreement

The possibility of a fisheries agreement between China and Morocco is worrying the European Union, reports Jeune Afrique, estimating that Brussels shot itself in the foot with the cancellation of the agricultural and fisheries agreements with Morocco. The day after the decision of the Court of Justice of the EU to annul these agreements, Beijing and Rabat signed in early July 2023 in Rabat a memorandum of understanding to strengthen their bilateral cooperation in the field of agriculture and maritime fisheries, it is recalled.

According to the pan-African magazine, China could therefore seize this opportunity to sign agreements with Rabat. "The situation may seem somewhat paradoxical: while Spain and France have taken a historic step in favor of the Moroccanness of the Sahara, the Court of Justice of the European Union decided, in October, to cancel the fisheries agreement linking the twenty-seven to the kingdom, on the grounds that it would have been established without the consent of the people of Western Sahara," writes the magazine, stressing that this decision has aroused the anger of EU officials.

"The European Union is firmly determined to preserve and continue to strengthen close relations with Morocco in all areas of the Morocco-EU partnership, in accordance with the principle of Pacta sunt servanda (agreements must be respected)," Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and Josep Borrel, the EU High Representative, said in a statement, recalling that since its entry into force in 2019, the canceled agreement has allowed 128 European vessels, including 90 Spanish ones, to fish in Moroccan waters.