EU legal adviser backs cancellation of EU-Morocco fishing agreement over disputed Western Sahara

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — A legal adviser to the European Union’s top court has recommended that it annul Europe’s fishing agreement with Morocco, which would have allowed European boats to fish for valuable catch off the coast of the disputed Western Sahara. The adviser said the agreement did not “sufficiently respect the ‘separate and distinct’ character of the territory of Western Sahara.” The advocate general for the Court of Justice of the EU backed the court’s earlier ruling and recommended it reject appeals that sought to uphold Europe’s 2019 fisheries agreement with Morocco. The court in 2021 ruled in favor of the pro-independence Polisario Front that the agreement violated the rights of people in the disputed territory.