PUSL .- Today 21 June a Hearing of the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the general policy of the ministry was held at the Commission of Foreign Affairs and Portuguese Communities of the Assembly of the Republic in Lisbon, Portugal.
During this hearing, Mrs. Isabel Pires, MP, from the Left Block party questioned Mr. João Cravinho, Minister of Foreign Affairs, about the fisheries agreement between the European Union and Morocco which expires on the 17th of July and which is being analysed by the European Court of Justice. She pointed out that the end of this agreement would mean the end of almost 40 years of exploitation of Saharawi natural resources.
Isabel Pires also questioned the Minister if he had already taken steps and made contact with the Portuguese fishermen affected and what measures he intended to take and what the position of the Portuguese government was on this matter.
The MP also addressed the question of Portugal’s tripartite bid for the world football championship with Spain and Morocco, Morocco being known for its systematic human rights violations.
Minister Cravinho answered that when there is a court decision on the UE/Morocco agrement the Portuguese government will act accordingly and that it will also comply and work with other European countries if there is a need for any change.
“Morocco is a neighbour and a friendly country with which we have secular relations, as a matter of fact we will celebrate soon next year the two hundred and fifty years of the friendship treaty with Morocco and we must also know how to respect this reality,” said the Minister, who also emphasised that “what is certain is that with Morocco we are interested in having a friendly, close and intense relationship in various areas and we have been able to do exactly that work.
Regarding the issue of the bid with Morocco and Spain he said that it was a matter for the respective federations. Regarding Human Rights violations he said that “We can have criticism about what goes on in other countries, other countries might have criticism or other people, might have criticism about things that go on in Portugal. ”
Thus placing Human Rights violations as a fait accompli with no interest to be debated.
Transcript of the speech/question by
Isabel Pires from the Left Bloc
Thank you Mr President. I would like to greet the President, the Minister, the Secretaries of State and Members of Parliament.
We have four or five topics we wanted to raise here, and I will start with the fisheries agreement between the European Union and Morocco.
As you know, this agreement expires on 17 July next, and in fact the fact that it expires represents the end of thirty,-forty years of plunder of the wealth of natural resources in Western Sahara, which goes far beyond fishing.
But as far as we know, the European Commission, despite several pressures to the contrary from some member states, has decided not to extend the agreement until a final ruling is issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union on the validity of this and other agreements signed between the European Union and Morocco.
We would like to know the position of the Portuguese government on this matter and also to understand how many Portuguese vessels will have to leave the territorial waters of Morocco and Western Sahara, if there are already contacts between the government and the fishermen who may face some difficulties and what the government expects from the final sentence and what measures it can anticipate in the event that the court confirms that the agreements are null and void and that the use of resources in the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara will have to be negotiated directly with the representative of the Saharawi people, the Polisario Front. And so we know that this will be imminent from July and so we would like to understand what the position of the Portuguese government is.
In a way connected with the Moroccan question, we would also like to ask another question. Everyone has seen the news about the Prime Minister’s visit to Hungary to promote Portugal’s bid to host the world football championship. Regardless of the bad company of Victor Orbán, with whom António Costa met, it seems to us that the basic question here is a little more relevant: why is Portugal going to participate in a bid with the Spanish State and the Kingdom of Morocco?
Given that the Kingdom of Morocco is known to have systematically violated human rights, particularly in relation to Western Sahara
In recent years there have been several debates concerning the holding of football championships, particularly in Qatar, due to a lack of respect for human rights, here again we have a bid including the Kingdom of Morocco, which is known by various institutions to be in breach of and violating many human rights.
Transcription of the answer from given by
Mr. João Cravinho, Minister for Foreign Affairs
Thank you very much, Madam President, thank you very much, MP Isabel Pires who asks several questions regarding the issue that is currently being considered by the eh European Court of Justice regarding fishing off the coast of West Africa in relation to the dispute between Morocco and the …. Morocco and the …. and the…. and the… and the authorities representing the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. This is naturally not yet recognised by Morocco and does not correspond to the agreement established between the European Union and Morocco for fisheries. It is a matter that is being… is under the jurisdiction of the court.
When the court reaches a final conclusion, we will naturally act accordingly and I don’t want to anticipate what the court’s decision may be, there is no reason for us to move forward before the court reaches its conclusions, which I don’t know exactly what they will be, but obviously we will follow them and we will also work with other European countries if there is a need for any changes.
Morocco is a neighbour and a friend, a country with which we have a secular relationship, in fact it will be the 250th anniversary of the friendship treaty with Morocco next year and we must also respect this reality. We may have criticisms about what happens in other countries, other countries may have criticisms or other people may have criticisms about things that happen in Portugal.
But what is certain is that with Morocco we are interested in having a friendly, close and intense relationship in several areas, and we have been managing to do exactly that.
As far as the bid for the two thousand and thirty World Cup is concerned, this was a bid worked out by the football federations of the three countries which advanced in that direction. I think it may be extremely interesting to symbolise a bi continental World Cup in which Portugal and Spain, on the European side, are joined by a country on the African side, Morocco, to hold the event.
