Press release on Morocco-Gate and Western Sahara
Intergroup for Western Sahara in the European Parliament strongly condemns Morocco’s attempts to influence Members of Parliament and their work through this serious foreign interference into EU democratic processes
During this Plenary week the Intergroup for Western Sahara, a cross-party working group in the European Parliament, met to discuss the current developments. The recent investigations into the European Parliament’s corruption case – Qatar-Gate – reveal a shocking link to Morocco. As members of the Intergroup for Western Sahara in the European Parliament we strongly condemn especially Morocco’s attempts to influence Members of Parliament and their work through this serious foreign interference into EU democratic processes.
We now must look very closely and relentlessly to disclose the role and influence of Morocco on the work of the European Parliament. Morocco has a specific interest in relations with the European Union and its representatives, especially in the context of the Western Sahara issue. The territories of Western Sahara occupied by Morocco are rich in fish and raw materials such as phosphates, from which Morocco benefits through trade with the EU without the consent of the Saharawi people and their legal representation the Polisario Front. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has repeatedly struck down EU agreements with Morocco in relation to Western Sahara as invalid. The Council of the European Union has appealed the latest ruling and a new ruling from the ECJ is expected during the upcoming months. We are confident that the ECJ will once again reaffirm the illegality of the EU agreements on fisheries and trade; we hence urge the EU to take immediate action to put all its dealings with this occupied territory in line with international and European law without waiting any further and to take effective action to uphold the right to self-determination of the Saharawi people.
What we demand now is that the same measures which have already been applied to Qatar should be applied to Morocco now as well, namely to ban the diplomatic Moroccan mission and lobbyists acting on its behalf from access to the European Parliament for the duration of the judicial investigation in the corruption case. We must also shed light on Morocco and need to clarify what role the impact of the corruption affair and Morocco’s possible influence have on the Western Sahara issue. What is more, we need to review all the decisions and legislative reports of the European Parliament linked to Morocco and to Western Sahara, including the finalist list of the Sakharov price vote in the year of 2021. Thus analysing whether the final decision was influenced by the corruption network and if so, revise the decision relating to the case of the Saharawi human rights activist Sultana Khaya.
