Morocco Celebrates Court Ruling Ending EU Fishing Agreements in Territorial Waters

"The biggest beneficiary right now is the Moroccan people... who will eat their fresh vegetables and delicious fish at reasonable prices... We expect this decision to lead to a drop in the prices of these products precisely," comments an internet user on Facebook. "Does the European Union still have a role to play in the world? We are on our land and in our seas, the riches of the sea and the land are ours and we are the first beneficiaries, the Sahara is in its Morocco and Morocco in its Sahara, whether it pleases or not, until God inherits the earth and all that it contains," writes a second internet user on the same social network.

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A third adds: "Our resources, our fish should not be eaten by others... Fish is expensive for us, in a country whose coasts stretch over 3,500 kilometers." Other comments read on Facebook: "Our wealth must not benefit others", "Finally, Moroccans will benefit from their own resources", "Morocco is a priority for its riches". These Moroccan internet users thus welcome the decision of the European Court of Justice and expect the prices of fishery products to drop considerably.

Although the ruling of the European justice is politicized, it represents an opportunity for Morocco to free itself from unbalanced economic agreements and strengthen partnerships with European Union countries on a bilateral basis, due to the deep divisions within the Union on several files, estimated specialists in Moroccan-European relations with Hespress.

On Friday, the Court of Justice of the European Union annulled two agricultural and fisheries agreements concluded with Morocco. The EU said these agreements were obsolete because they were established "without the consent of the people of Western Sahara". A decision contested by Rabat. "Morocco is not a party to this case, which concerns the European Union on the one hand, and the "polisario" supported by Algeria on the other," said an official statement. Rabat denounced "suspicious factual errors" and "obvious legal errors" which would, according to the kingdom, "testify to a total ignorance of the realities of the file, if not to a flagrant political bias". Conversely, Algeria welcomed the decision of the European Court of Justice. It considers that it confirms the illegality of the trade agreements concluded with the kingdom.