The European Parliament has endorsed a revised version of the Euro-Mediterranean air services agreement between the European Union (EU) and Morocco, explicitly excluding Western Sahara from its scope. This decision aligns with the European Court of Justice (ECJ) rulings, which categorize the territory as ‘separate’ and ‘distinct’ from Morocco.
The updated protocol, adopted earlier this month, extends the agreement’s application to Croatia—a EU member since July 1, 2013—without altering its core provisions. By doing so, the EU has reaffirmed its stance that it neither recognizes Moroccan sovereignty nor authority over Western Sahara, including its airspace.
The Saharawi Working Group on Natural Resources and Legal Affairs hailed the parliamentary vote, calling it a pivotal legal and political triumph. In their statement, they emphasized that the exclusion of Western Sahara from the agreement underscores the territory’s unassailable sovereignty.
“By strictly confining the treaty to Morocco’s internationally recognized borders, the European Parliament has firmly reiterated that Western Sahara remains a separate entity over which Rabat holds no administrative or sovereign claim,” stated Oubi Bouchraya Bachir, the group’s ambassador and chairperson.
The working group, dedicated to safeguarding national heritage and related legal matters, noted that this legislative move further solidifies the international legal boundary separating Western Sahara from Morocco.
Meanwhile, the Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW), an international observatory monitoring the territory’s natural resources, welcomed the EU Parliament’s decision. They clarified that while the protocol is a technical update to accommodate Croatia’s EU accession, it does not expand the agreement’s territorial reach.
The observatory reiterated the ECJ’s 2018 ruling, which concluded that EU-Morocco agreements cannot be applied beyond Morocco’s internationally recognized borders. This interpretation, they added, has been consistently upheld by the European Commission, which has explicitly notified EU carriers that the air agreement “does not apply to air links connecting EU member states with Western Sahara.”
