The Advocate General of the EU''s top Court backs the legal status of the people of Western Sahara. Final Judgment expected in a few months. The Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union has this morning, 21 March 2024, published two Opinions in the appeal case on extending the EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement and Trade
RABAT: King Mohammed VI on Friday reaffirmed that settling sovereignty disputes over the Western Sahara remains the driving force behind Morocco''s foreign policy, lauding diplomatic triumphs and
The U-turn may have calmed one country, but it has put Spain at odds with another: Algeria, the fiercest supporter of Western Sahara''s independence and Spain''s No. 1 gas supplier. Algiers was
Despite the ECJ''s decisions, many European companies continue to exploit the rich natural resources of Western Sahara, including phosphates, fisheries, and agricultural products. This has placed them in
Western Sahara Resource Watch, a Brussels-based NGO allied to the independence movement, estimates that by the end of the decade occupied Western Sahara could be supplying half of all Morocco''s wind
None of the companies participating in the renewable energy industry inside Western Sahara, including those most heavily implicated - Italian company Enel and Spanish Siemens Gamesa - have clarified whether they have even tried to obtain the consent of the people of the territory. The European Court of Justice ruled on 29 September 2021
The tensions have reached the European Court of Justice, which this week handed a legal victory to the Polisario Front, ruling that a broad economic treaty between the EU and Morocco could not be...
Today, the European Court of Justice ruled that fisheries and agriculture agreements between the EU and Morocco five years ago did not involve consultations with the people of Western Sahara. The Court stated that the European Commission had violated the people of Western Sahara''s right to self-determination by entering into trade agreements with
The European Court of Justice (CJEU) has once again demonstrated that the European Union remains a community built on the rule of law. For the fifth time, it has rejected efforts by the Council of the EU and the European Commission – which are jointly responsible for the EU''s trade relations – to extend the provisions of the EU-Morocco agricultural and fishery
The Trump administration faces a historic opportunity to resolve the Western Sahara conflict. Centered on a disputed territory along North Africa''s Atlantic seaboard, where Morocco and the
The NGO Western Sahara Resource Watch reported that up to 80 percent of the land earmarked by Morocco for green hydrogen production lies in the Western Sahara. For the time being, the official EU position bars the EU
For two weeks Morocco has been openly bragging about its renewable energy projects, which are to a significant extent situated in Western Sahara, not in Morocco — and the business is growing, with Western Sahara
European company MGH Energy through its subsidiary MGH Energy Maroc confirmed that it has chosen to work with the Moroccan company Greenard to launch the first stage of its project to build a plant to produce renewable synthetic fuel in the Dakhla region.
The NGO Western Sahara Resource Watch reported that up to 80 percent of the land earmarked by Morocco for green hydrogen production lies in the Western Sahara. For the time being, the official EU position bars the EU from purchasing energy originating in
These planned energy exports would make the European and West African energy markets partially dependent on energy generated in occupied Western Sahara. The Saharawi people are 500,000: around 30-40,000 live under the Moroccan military occupation and the rest live in the Tindouf refugee camp (the capital of the exiled SADR) in Algeria and some
6 天之前· Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita has described the dissolution of the European Parliament''s "Western Sahara Intergroup" in 2024 as a significant diplomatic development in countering
Apart from one privately-owned wind farm that powers a cement factory, wind energy developments in occupied Western Sahara are all part of the portfolio of a wind energy company called Nareva, which belongs to
In a July letter celebrating the 25th anniversary of Moroccan King Mohammed VI''s coronation, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a change in France''s policy regarding the long-running Western Sahara dispute, declaring that "the present and future of Western Sahara lie within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty." That followed similar
After years of diplomatic tensions, France has reversed course on its decades-old position by recognizing Morocco''s sovereignty over the Western Sahara. In late July, Paris formally endorsed Morocco''s autonomy plan for the disputed territory, declaring that "the present and future of Western Sahara fall within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty."
But Madrid''s relationship with Algeria, a staunch ally of Western Sahara''s independence cause, has gone the other way. The Algerian government declared itself "surprised by this sudden change of position" by Spain and immediately withdrew its ambassador in Madrid, Said Moussi, in protest. In the context of the European energy crisis
The European Union''s pivot away from Russian fossil fuels is being sold as part of the green energy transition. Yet the plan''s reliance on imports from Morocco and occupied Western Sahara shows how it is driving a new kind of green colonialism.
Days after the ECJ ruling, Morocco is still trying to find a company that will connect its illegal energy projects in occupied Western Sahara to the Moroccan grid. The European Parliament has expressed itself in favour of holding debates in three parliament committees about the exclusion of Western Sahara from EU-Morocco trade agreements.
Western Sahara Resource Watch, a Brussels-based NGO allied to the independence movement, estimates that by the end of the decade occupied Western Sahara could be supplying half of all Morocco''s wind energy and a third of its solar energy, much of it headed for Europe. Morocco insists that the territory is part of Morocco.
European company MGH Energy through its subsidiary MGH Energy Maroc confirmed that it has chosen to work with the Moroccan company Greenard to launch the first stage of its project to build a plant to produce
Despite the ECJ''s decisions, many European companies continue to exploit the rich natural resources of Western Sahara, including phosphates, fisheries, and agricultural products. This has placed them in direct violation of international law, as the court has clearly stated that any agreements involving the territory''s resources must have
Western Sahara Resource Watch, a Brussels-based NGO allied to the independence movement, estimates that by the end of the decade occupied Western Sahara could be supplying half of all Morocco’s wind energy and a third of its solar energy, much of it headed for Europe.
Due to the status of the Western Sahara, the EU has said that it would not import energy from the territory. It is separate from Morocco under international law, and no country officially recognises the occupation as legitimate—though some do in practice.
The projects were presented in 2012, including building three wind farms in Morocco and two in the occupied “southern provinces”. There are two sites in development in the Western Sahara: a 100 MW near Boujdour and a 300 MW in Tiskrad—near the territory’s capital, El Aaiun.
The annexation took place between 1976 and 1979 and is considered illegal under international law. The Western Sahara is, according to the United Nations, a “non-self-governing territory going through the process of decolonisation”. Due to the status of the Western Sahara, the EU has said that it would not import energy from the territory.
One key issue has been achieving legitimacy for its illegal occupation of the Western Sahara. A sparsely populated and largely uninhabitable territory, the Western Sahara was a Spanish colony until as recently as 1976. Moroccan troops now occupy about 70%, and it has sent in civilian settlers to claim the land.
A sparsely populated and largely uninhabitable territory, the Western Sahara was a Spanish colony until as recently as 1976. Moroccan troops now occupy about 70%, and it has sent in civilian settlers to claim the land. The rest is controlled by the Sahrawi liberation organisation, known as the Polisario Front.
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