Morocco Delays Vote on Maritime Border Expansion Amid Regional Tensions

"We have prepared everything for the deputies to discuss and adopt these two draft laws presented to Parliament by the government," a parliamentary source told Le360, without however mentioning the reasons for this postponement.

Last Monday, the parliamentary committee in charge of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Moroccans Residing Abroad and Islamic Affairs unanimously voted for the two draft laws.

The objective of these draft laws is to delimit the exclusive economic zone (200 miles) off the coasts of the southern provinces of Morocco and to incorporate it into the national legal arsenal. They also establish "baselines as well as the continental shelf of the seabed connecting Morocco to Spain, Portugal and Mauritania".