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The new Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Kingdom of Morocco: fishing too south?
Abstract
1. INTRODUCTION. 2. A SHORT REHEARSAL OF THE WESTERN SAHARA QUESTION. 3. THE 2006 FISHERIES PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT. 4. THE LEGAL VALIDITY OF THE FPA WITH REGARD TO WESTERN SAHARA. 5. THE COMPATIBILITY OF THE FPA WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW. 6. THE EC AND THE OBLIGATION OF NON-RECOGNITION APPLIED TOWESTERN SAHARA. 7. THE LAW OF OCCUPATION AND THE USE OF NATURAL RESOURCES BY MOROCCO. 8. POSSIBLE CHALLENGES OF THE FPA BEFORE JUDICIAL INSTITUTIONS. 9. CONCLUSIONS.
... The EU endorsed the new FPA agreement with Morocco in November 2018, without the explicit exclusion of the Western Sahara territories or the consent of the Polisario (CEU 2018b). Some argue that the EU's actions constitute an implied or 'creeping' recognition of Morocco's annexation of Western Sahara that violates the principle of non-recognition (Milano 2006;Dawidowicz 2013). A comparison of the application of legality and consensus in two terrains of foreign policy practices (recognition, trade) demonstrates the fluidity of routine and specific practices throughout the interpretative process where things are coordinated, ranked, prioritised or excluded. ...
This article recalls the recognition-colonialism conjuncture to examine how prior normative rights to self-determination, independence and decolonisation influence current recognition practice, and asks how they compete with contingent factors. The interrogation of this inter-pretive process provides insights into how recognition of states operates. This reveals how state recognition in current colonial conflicts is qualified based on an assessment of contingent factors such as the international consensus and level of involvement. For this purpose, Sweden's recognition practice towards Palestine and Western Sahara present apposite empirical cases. This article argues that the practice of recognition is a hermeneutic and evolving process, which is contingent on the interpretation of different situational and political aspects. This has far-reaching implications for international recognition and order, as colonised/occupied peoples' prior normative right to self-determination and independence ends up being qualified, contested and adjudicated in connection with contingent political factors.
... 143 Yet the projected referendum on independence never took place, and Morocco assumed effective control of most of the territory -and only a few years ago concluded an international treaty with the EU, in which it traded fishing rights in the territorial waters of Western Sahara as if exercising legitimate sovereignty over them. 144 The exile government of the self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is virtually powerless in most of Western Sahara. Thus, even legal entitlement and widespread recognition together do not lead to the widespread acknowledgement, or actual making, of a state. ...
International law is classically based on a system of states whose members it attempts to identify by virtue of their effectiveness, their recognition by other states, and their creation in accordance with the rules of international law. In this article, I illustrate the indeterminacy of these three dimensions and argue that assessments of individual state creations are instead necessarily based on blunt, but silent, ontological commitments to any potential state's full presence or absence. While the 'great debate' between declaratory and constitutive doctrines of recognition has emphasized, but not finally determined, the ontology of the state, attempts to find compromises between material effectiveness and constitutive recognition as well as the turn towards the proper legal regulation of state creation have only bracketed and invisibilized its decisive role. The deconstruction of state identifications reveals an essentially empty state ontology that confronts scholars and practitioners with the predicament of having to ultimately presuppose any particular state's existence or its absence. This not only allows for reflecting on the stakes of individual assessments but also shows how all state identifications inevitably reproduce the hegemonic image of an exclusive and neatly delineated state system that brings its unruly fringes under control time and again. © The Author, 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of EJIL Ltd.
... It is very clear that this agreement presents a major obstacle to the self-determination of the Western Sahara. 35 As far as the phosphates are concerned, all the revenue benefits from their exploitation accrue to a Moroccan-owned company. Even if this sector represents a larger percentage of Saharawi workers than the fisheries sector, there is no provision reserving these jobs for the Saharawi, despite the high unemployment rate among the native population. ...
Purpose The issue of the legal obligations of Spain as administering power is cer-tainly peculiar because since 1976, Spain does not has effective power on the territory (although the mari-time and aerial space present a very relevant problem). In this paper, starting from an essay of categoriza-tion of models of obligations of co-lonial powers vis-à-vis its colonies, we want to show the evolution of these models in the International law of the colonization until now. For this purpose, we will try to clar-ify what is the legal status of West-ern Sahara, discussing if it can be considered as the "administering power" of the territory. Taking into account the obligations now estab-lished for third countries and ad-ministering powers in the Interna-tional Law we want to study what obligations are imposed on Spain and its degree of compliance. 1. Antecedents: the obligations of colonizators 1.1. The debate in the foundations of the International Law. The foundations of modern Interna-tional Law were set by Spanish scholars when reflecting on the colonisation of America (Brown Scott). It is not surprising to see arise in that very first moment the ques-tion about the lawfulness and condi-tions of the colonisation. Three dif-ferent positions were taken into consideration.
This chapter completely shifts the focus to the substantive aspects of the European Union’s (EU) normativity under the legitimacyLegitimacy element and examines the EU’s action in accessing foreign fisheries resources. In that type of action, the EU has asserted itself as the relevant interlocutor under its exclusive Common Fisheries PolicyCommon Fisheries Policy (CFP) and so it does not face the legal issues of participation limitationsParticipation limitations or reliance on Member States. This chapter provides a more general discussion of the EU’s compensatory (payment for access) agreements and then focuses on a specific case study (the Western SaharaWestern Sahara saga) to analyse in detail the EU’s conduct and the normativity challenges that arise in due to strong emphasis on individual and even common Member State interests at the expense of more global interests, leading to incoherence and inconsistency and possibly illegality in the case of Western SaharaWestern Sahara.
Desde 1988 a 2013 la ue apoyaba la negociación Marruecos-Frente Polisario (fp) para realizar la autodeterminación política del pueblo saharaui mientras negociaba con Marruecos acuerdos que, sin incluir el Sahara Occidental, se aplicaban a este territorio. El tjue en varias decisiones (2015-2018) exigió que los acuerdos con Marruecos sólo se aplicaran en Marruecos. En 2019 el Consejo y la Comisión incluyeron explícitamente el Sahara Occidental en los acuerdos con Marruecos ignorando al fp, su representante. Las sentencias del tg de 2021, de confirmarse por el tj, cerrarían la puerta al doble juego de reconocer al fp como parte en la negociación de la autodeterminación política del pueblo del Sahara Occidental negándole ser parte en su autodeterminación económica.
The Anuario Español de Derecho Internacional (AEDI) provides an annual report on new developments, trends and challenges in international law and international relations. Doctrinal studies and other articles published in this Yearbook address issues of enduring interest for scholar and practitioners in international law. With a long-standing tradition close to half a century, this Yearbook relies on the solidity and continuity of the successive editorial teams. Good work, research of scientific interest, selection of the collaborators, and opportunity of the contents, have led our Yearbook towards a growing recognition by Spanish and European scholars.
The conflict eruption in the Sahel during the last years has provoked new challenges for the European Union's security architecture. Notably the toppling of Libyan long-time leader Muammar al-Qaddafi in summer 2011 negatively affected many countries' stability in the adjacent Sahel region. The EU's 'Strategy for Security and Development in the Sahel' in March 2011 suggested a combination of soft and hard policies to foster stabilization and political progress in line with the 2003 European Security Strategy through a Comprehensive Approach. This article analyses to what extent the EU's actions in the region have indeed contributed to conflict resolution. It evaluates the overall effectiveness of the implementation of the EU's Comprehensive Approach, and underlines five critical aspects that might provoke rather worse than better results in the Sahel. The guiding hypothesis is that the increased use of military means lowers the EU's impact on peaceful conflict resolution in the region, as the lost impartiality hinders its chances for civilian success. The Malian malaise, therefore, poses fundamental questions for the EU's Comprehensive Approach towards security and stability - particularly at times when in Brussels the European Neighbourhood Policy and the European Security Strategy are under thorough review.
This is the third book in the series Shared Responsibility in International Law, which examines the problem of distribution of responsibilities among multiple states and other actors. In its work on the responsibility of states and international organisations, the International Law Commission recognised that attribution of acts to one actor does not exclude possible attribution of the same act to another state or organisation. Recognising that the applicable rules and procedures for shared responsibility may differ between particular issue areas, this volume reviews the practice of states, international organisations, courts and other bodies that have dealt with the issue of international responsibility of multiple wrongdoing actors in a wide range of issue areas, including energy, extradition, investment law, NATO-led operations and fisheries. These analyses jointly assess the fit of the prevailing principles of international responsibility and provide a basis for reform and further development of international law.
The European Union’s (EU) exclusive competence on the conservation of fisheries resources is not restricted to the maritime waters under the sovereignty or jurisdiction of its Member States but also extends to the activities of EU fishermen and fishing vessels in the waters of third countries or on the high seas. In developing this competence, the EU has gradually forged an external fishing policy that has enabled it to negotiate fisheries agreements with third States, with a view to maintaining the activity of the EU fishing fleet, as well as to helping to supply the European market for fish. Very recently, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) case law has reflected some of the problems that have arisen during the development of this international competence held by the EU in the field of fisheries, namely, the European Commission competence to represent the EU before an international court or tribunal, as well as the problem of the EU international legal responsibility for any breach of its obligations provided by an access fisheries agreement; the scope of the competence of the EU in the field of fisheries, as well as the notion of an international fisheries agreement; and the procedure for access to fisheries resources by virtue of an international fisheries agreement.
The Western Sahara conflict is an issue of decolonization whose solution lies in the exercise by the autochthonous population of its right to freely determine its future via referendum supervised by the United Nations, the independence being one of the options. This is such a basic point that it should be beyond discussion. Yet the UN has bowed to Morocco's delaying tactics aimed at securing a referendum that would favor its wishes for annexing the territory by manipulating the Saharan people's right to self-determination. Morocco's position on this issue enjoys support from important members- and non members- of the UN Security Council.
The study focuses on Western Sahara conflict and the formation of the POLISARIO Front. The main purpose is to analyses the international subjetivity of this movement, regarding the International Law and Practise of the National Liberation Movements. What is the place of the POLISARIO Front in the International Comunity or
what is its relation with other States and International Organizations are questions that will be addressed.
This paper undertakes an economic analysis of the Portuguese fisheries sector and fish markets for the period 1960–2011. In this period the Portuguese economy has undergone a transformation as well as been subject to numerous external shocks. These include the revolution of 1974, substantial emigration as well as immigration, membership of the European Union in 1986 and adopting the Euro in 1999. The fisheries sector was exposed to a major shock of its own: the introduction of 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zones in 1977 essentially lead to the demise of Portugal as a Distant Water Fishing State. As a consequence of these shocks, the Portuguese fisheries sector and trade have undergone tremendous changes. It is remarkable that the overall supply of fish (tonnes) into Portugal, measured as domestic landings+exports – imports, was around 500,000 t annually in the early 1960s, reaching a peak of 627,000 t in 1967. Due to the macroeconomic shocks, it subsequently fell to a bottom level of 246,000 t in 1979. By the mid 1980s, supply started increasing and in 2007, total supply was estimated at 655,000 t, the highest level ever recorded.
The EU's bilateral fishing policy towards developing third countries has evolved over the years to increasingly emphasise sustainability, culminating in 2002 with the release of a ‘fisheries partnership approach’. The Community has begun to operationalise the policy in various West African coastal states, where its new fisheries partnership agreements are intended to function as ‘development vectors’. This paper introduces the EU's new policy, examines its potential implications for the role of sustainability in future bilateral fishing relations and highlights the impetus for it with reference to analysis of the EU's most recent agreement with Senegal based on empirical research.
Al Barakaat International Foundation v. Council of the European Union and Commission of the European Communities, supported by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Case T-206/01, Judgment of
- Ahmed Ali
Ahmed Ali Yusuf, Al Barakaat International Foundation v. Council of the European
Union and Commission of the European Communities, supported by the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Case T-206/01, Judgment of 21 September 2005, para.
249.
132. Question no. 67, by Mrs Le Roux (H-1002/87), Answer of the Commission of 9
March 1988, OJ 2-363/191.
- G A See
- Res
See GA Res. 34/37, 21 November 1979; GA Res. 35/19 of 11 December 1980, 11 December 1980.
Counter-memorial of Australia, Part II
East Timor Case (Portugal/Australia), ICJ Reports 1995, 90, Counter-memorial of Australia, Part II,
Chap. 1, pp. 88ff.