The Polisario Front is preparing to challenge the newly provisionally agreed agricultural deal between Morocco and the European Union before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The agreement, reached last October, controversially includes products originating from Western Sahara, according to El Confidencial. The Polisario claims that the «Sahrawi people» were excluded from the consultation process ahead of the deal between Rabat and Brussels. It is worth recalling that the CJEU previously annulled the 2019 agricultural agreement on the grounds that the «consent of the people of Western Sahara» was a necessary condition for the validity of any EU decision concerning the territory. At the time, the Court stressed that the consultations conducted in 2019 «did not involve the people of Western Sahara, but rather the populations currently residing in the territory, regardless of whether they form part of that people». The judges also emphasized that since a «significant portion of this people now lives outside the territory, such consultations could not ensure their consent». Responding to the new agricultural deal, the Polisario has reaffirmed its intention to file an appeal before the CJEU and seek its annulment. Notably, the movement has remained silent on the fishing agreement signed in October in Moscow between Morocco and Russia, which also covers the waters off Western Sahara.
