According to the Legal Services of the European Parliament, the agreement does not exclude the waters of Western Sahara and does not exclude its geographical scope, and it is therefore up to Morocco to respect its international obligations. The European Community could finally suspend the agreement if Morocco does not respect the interests of the people of Western Sahara. Despite the positive opinion, a large minority in the European Parliament called for the explicit exclusion of Western Sahara from the geographical scope of the agreement. Finally, Parliament adopted the Treaty and called on the Council to strengthen the monitoring mechanisms. [2] The lack of sovereignty and management of Morocco`s status of power for Western Sahara has also been brought to the attention of the European Parliament, which has not concluded because of Morocco`s lack of competence to conclude an agreement with the EU on this issue. In 2006, the European Fisheries Commissioner, Borg, stated, referring to the UN legal opinion, that “agreements can be reached with the Kingdom of Morocco on the natural resources of Western Sahara”, since the LEGAL opinion of the United Nations “implys that Morocco is a de facto administrative power… and is therefore entitled to conclude such an agreement. [11] The Commission underestimated the difference between the purpose of the UN legal opinion on contracts with foreign oil and exploration companies and the nature of the VPA, an international agreement that cannot be equated with a treaty and requires a different and stronger jurisdiction from Morocco. [2] For the reasons outlined above, Milano notes that “the VPA may be declared invalid insofar as it intends to create international rights with regard to the exploitation of fishing in the waters of Western Sahara.” This would mean that the EU cannot rely on the VPA to apply for fishing licences for the waters of Western Sahara, that Morocco cannot object to the EU complaining about fishing activities in the waters of Western Sahara and that the EU cannot oppose the VPA as a binding authority for a future western Sahara government. [14] The EU-Morocco Partnership Agreement is a fisheries agreement between the European Community (EC) and Morocco, which allows European vessels to fish off the Moroccan coast.
The VPA allows EU vessels from 11 Member States to fish in Moroccan waters and can be considered one of the most important fisheries agreements for the COMMUNITY.
