It is both absurd, reprehensible and a huge breach of trust. This is how the Nordic MEPs from the Left group in the European Parliament describes the news that the EU Commission has negotiated yet another agreement with Morocco that de facto recognizes and rewards the country’s decades-long illegal occupation of Western Sahara.

Their reaction come after it emerged that the European Commission has negotiated a new and controversial agreement with the Kingdom of Morocco. An agreement that also includes goods from Western Sahara. Per Clausen, MEP from Denmark says:

It is nothing short of absurd that the EU Commission in practice chooses to ignore several previous rulings that state, that the agreements the Commission enters into with Morocco may NOT deal with the illegally occupied Western Sahara. This shows an abysmal lack of respect, both for international law, for occupied peoples – and for the EU’s own court.

He goes on to emphasize that in his opinion this should in theory be enough for a vote of no confidence in the EU Commission:

If it were not for the fact that we have already tabled a voted no confidence in the EU Commission, I would think that this act alone should be enough to demand that the conservative leader of the Commission explain herself to Parliament

Controversial agreement brought to the light by a leak

The Nordic Left MEPs anger comes after the organization Western Sahara Resource Watch was able to reveal a leaked EU document, which shows the EU leadership’s plans to continue trading in products from occupied Western Sahara. This, despite the fact that it is in direct conflict with several previous decisions of the EU Court of Justice.

As if that were not enough, it even looks like the EU countries will have to vote to approve the new trade agreement with Morocco, already on Wednesday, October 1 – and thus without time for public debate. The Nordic LEFT MEPs condemn this as completely wrong, not least since the controversial agreement seems to clearly also cover products from the illegally occupied Western Sahara – but without having obtained consent from the original inhabitants of the area, the Saharawis. Finnish Left MEP Jussi Saramo calls it reprehensible::

I find it deeply reprehensible that it seems that the European Commission has quietly negotiated an agreement that simply disregards and ignores ten consecutive judgments from the European Court of Justice. Judgments that have each confirmed the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination.

Last year, the European Court of Justice annulled the previous agreement

Adding to the story, and something that Nordic MEPs believes underlines how bad the actions of the European Commission are, is that it has been less than a year since the European Court of Justice last ruled on the case. This happened on 4 October 2024, when the European Court of Justice clearly annulled the application of the 2019 trade agreement between the EU and Morocco with regard to Western Sahara. The justification then, as has been the case before, was that the Saharawi people had not given their consent. At the time, the Court gave the EU a deadline of one year – until 4 October 2025 – to bring its actions into line with international law. This is precisely why Swedish MEP Hanna Gedin says:

The proposed trade deal is a clear breach of international law and of several previous court cases ruling that any deals with Morocco must not include the occupied West Sahara. The EU has an obligation to stand up for international law and to stand against any occupation. This trade deal must be stopped.

Clear call to the Danish EU Presidency

Precisely because the new agreement appears to, once again, effectively ignore both international law and the EU’s own judges, The Nordic MEPs believes that Denmark, by virtue of the EU Presidency, should step up. In this connection, they makes a clear call to the Prime Minister:

Mette Frederiksen and the Danish government are often – and rightly – happy to talk about the importance of complying with international law and not accepting military expansion. Therefore, we strongly urge Denmark – which currently holds the EU Presidency – to work to reject the agreement for reasons of principle.

More about the issue

You can read more about the controversial trade agreement – and reactions from Per Clausen – here:

• Agence Europe, 1. October: EU Council gives green light to revised EU-Morocco Association Agreement