EU Recognizes Sahrawi Agricultural Products as Moroccan
EU and Morocco Sign Secretly Negotiated Agricultural Deal Marketed as Support for the “Moroccan Sahara”
Negotiated in secret over five days in September and signed without consulting the European Parliament just 24 hours before the extension granted by the EU Court of Justice— which had declared the EU‑Morocco trade agreements illegal— expired, the Kingdom of Morocco and the European Union formalised the controversial amendment to the agricultural agreement on Friday in Brussels, according to El Independiente.
The text, signed at the European Commission headquarters, allows “products originating from the southern provinces” – a reference to Western Sahara, occupied by Morocco since 1975 and still awaiting decolonisation – to enjoy the same preferential access to the EU internal market as Moroccan products, despite the court ruling that the two territories are distinct. The agreement takes effect provisionally while internal procedures on both sides are completed, and it does so despite opposition from European farmers and the Polisario Front, the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people.
Morocco’s Use of the Agreement
Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita hailed the amendment as a “success” and insisted it provides “the necessary clarifications respecting the kingdom’s national foundations.” Rabat says the document follows the same philosophy as the 2018 note‑exchange agreement and confirms the application of preferential tariffs to Western Sahara. Bourita also recalled the EU’s 2019 stance, which described Morocco’s autonomy proposal presented at the United Nations as “serious and credible.”
The legal backdrop complicates Brussels’ picture. On 4 October 2024, the EU Court of Justice annulled the fishing and agricultural agreements between Rabat and Brussels for including Western Sahara without the consent of the Sahrawi people. Nonetheless, the court kept the pact in force for one year to avoid a legal vacuum. That deadline is now nearing its end, and member states have given the green light—via a written procedure—to the amendment submitted by the European Commission at the end of September. The approval was granted in an expedited process without the text being made publicly available for consultation.
The signing consolidates a practice that clashes with European judicial doctrine and the international status of the territory, which remains pending decolonisation under UN resolutions. Officially, the EU maintains that it does not recognise Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, yet the commercial agreements effectively integrate the region into Morocco’s economy. The new wording, which labels production areas as “Laayoune‑Sakia el Hamra” and “Dakhla‑Oued Eddahab,” reinforces this contradiction.
The amendment also reflects a recurring pattern in EU policy toward Morocco: prioritising economic and political cooperation with a key Maghreb partner over judicial warnings and international law. For Rabat, the deal serves as an implicit acknowledgment of its sovereignty over Western Sahara. For Brussels, it is a way to safeguard relations with a strategic ally while avoiding the costs of a commercial rupture.