Following the leak of the draft of the new agreement between Morocco and the European Union, Polisario's allies are stepping up to derail it. The proposed new agreement between Morocco and the European Union, which covers products from Western Sahara, has sparked outrage among Polisario's allies in the European Parliament and Spain's Congress of Deputies. On Tuesday, September 30, Spanish MEP Isabel Serra Sánchez, from the Left group, submitted a written question to the European Commission regarding the «provisional application of the new EU-Morocco agreement in Western Sahara, contradicting the rulings of the CJEU». The Podemos lawmaker pressed the Commission to explain the reasons behind what she described as an attempt to «sideline» the European Parliament from the adoption process. She also demanded figures on how many Sahrawis had actually benefited from the «49,000 jobs supposedly created» by the previous agreement with Morocco, a number cited in the draft's introduction. Serra Sánchez stressed that «the European Commission has negotiated a new agreement including products from the occupied territory, in contradiction with ten consecutive rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the principle of self-determination». She added that «the new agreement was negotiated and initialed in just five days, raising serious concerns about its transparency, credibility, and respect for court decisions». Sumar and ASAJA React The initiative in the European Parliament quickly gained support from Tesh Sidi, an MP with Sumar, a member of Spain's governing coalition. Responding the same day as Serra Sánchez's submission, the Sahrawi-origin lawmaker declared: «Last night we learned that the European Commission, and in reality Spain, would push these agreements and defend Rabat so that association agreements can be signed for the plundering of the occupied territory of the Sahara». Sumar has already urged the Spanish government to «negotiate directly with the Polisario to conclude a fishing agreement», a demand made on September 12 by fellow MP Enrique Santiago. Meanwhile, a Spanish agricultural organization has joined the mobilization at both European and national levels. The Association of Young Farmers (ASAJA) condemned the draft Morocco-EU deal in a statement, warning: «We denounce the legal shortcut taken by the EU to clandestinely integrate Sahrawi products into the agreement with Morocco. This directly harms Spanish producers, especially tomato and melon growers». The CJEU had ruled on October 4 that such products must be labeled as originating from the Sahara and not from Morocco. ASAJA has urged the EU's 27 member states to «vote against the agreement» with Rabat. EU member state representatives (COREPER) are scheduled to examine the draft agreement with Morocco on Wednesday at 10 a.m. in Brussels. Officially, the Polisario has remained silent. Oubi Bouchraya, responsible for this dossier, chaired a meeting last week in Brussels with members of the natural resources monitoring group but has so far limited his response to sharing Spanish and international press articles about the agreement on social media.
