DR ‹ › The Polisario Front announced that it has filed an appeal with the European General Court against the latest trade agreement signed between the European Union and Morocco, which includes products originating from the Sahara and entered into provisional application on October 3. The head of the separatist movement, Abi Bashraya Al-Bashir, told the Algerian News Agency that the Front, «as the legitimate and sole representative of the Sahrawi people, and possessing the legal personality that entitles it to plead before European judicial bodies», lodged the appeal on December 28, 2025. The European General Court is responsible for examining actions brought against EU institutions by individuals, companies, and member states. Its rulings may be appealed before the European Court of Justice. The court was previously known as the European Court of First Instance. According to the Polisario official, the agreement violates the rulings issued by the European Court of Justice on October 4, 2024, by «circumventing» the requirement of obtaining the consent of the Sahrawi people, whom he said are entitled to self-determination. He further claimed that the European Commission and Morocco «negotiated the recent trade agreement not only behind the back of the Sahrawi people and their legitimate and sole representative, the Polisario Front, but also behind the back of the European Parliament». It should be recalled that the agreement concluded between Rabat and Brussels allows agricultural products originating from the southern regions to benefit from the same preferential access to the European market as products from other parts of the Kingdom, in line with the Morocco-EU partnership framework. The agreement also includes technical provisions related to consumer information, notably labeling requirements indicating the production areas in the southern provinces, namely «Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra» and «Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab».
