The European Union appealed the European Court of Justice’s decision to annul the EU-Morocco agriculture agreement.

The Council of Foreign Ministers of the European Union appealed Monday the decision of the EU court regarding the EU-Morocco agriculture agreement.

 

The appeal, which was adopted om Friday by the conference of ambassadors of the 28 EU countries in Brussels, will be automatically submitted to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Monday.

On Thursday, the Eighth Chamber of the UCJ issued a ruling annulling the agriculture agreement signed in 2012 between Morocco and the EU.

To justify its ruling, the ECJ claimed that when signing the agreement, the UE “did not verify whether the exploitation of natural resources of the Western Sahara under Moroccan control was done or not for the benefit of the people of that territory.”

The ruling was rejected by Morocco, who said that it would take the “appropriate measures,” to deal with it, and wondered whether it should maintain its overall agreement with the European Union.

The Kingdom of Morocco is legitimately questioning the appropriateness of maintaining the whole set of agreements that the two countries have managed to build over long years in political, economic, human and security fields in a spirit of partnership and respect of internationally-recognized values” the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation said on Friday in a communique.

Immediately after the publication of the court’s ruling, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Vice-President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini, said that the EU would appeal the decision. Mogherini said that the EU considers that the bilateral agreements with Morocco are not jeopardized and that the EU institutions have begun preparatory work to appeal the decision.

News and events On Western Sahara issue