EU vessels fishing illegally
Feb 24th, 2010 | By editor | Category: EU Government NewsIn a previously confidential legal opinion, forwarded to the Parliament in July 2009, but finally made public when tabled for debate in the Parliament’s Fisheries Committee, the European Parliament’s Legal Service has declared fishing by European vessels in Western Sahara’s waters to be in violation of international law.
The new opinion calls on the European Commission to suspend or amend the EU-Morocco agreement to ensure that “EU-flagged vessels are excluded from the exploitation of the waters of Western Sahara.”
The Parliamentary Legal Service also recommended strongly that the wishes and interests of the Western Sahara’s native Saharawi population should be discussed at the next annual meeting of the EU-Morocco Joint Fisheries Committee, but this recommendation was completely ignored by the European Commission, which failed to even place the issue on the agenda at the most recent meeting in early February 2010.
The EU claims respect for international law at the heart of its foreign policy, but when it comes down to matters affecting commercial fisheries, away goes respect.
Around 500 organisations and more than 11,000 individuals worldwide have so far called on the EU to stop its fisheries in Western Sahara by signing up on WSRW’s campaign homepage www.fishelsewhere.eu.
The European Parliamentary Legal Service’s new opinion can be accessed via the same website.
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