The European Parliament has endorsed a revised protocol amending the Euro-Mediterranean air services agreement between the European Union (EU) and Morocco. The updated accord, approved on July 8, explicitly excludes Western Sahara, aligning with the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) stance that the territory is a distinct and separate entity from the Kingdom of Morocco.
The modification expands the agreement’s scope to include Croatia, an EU member since July 1, 2013, without altering its core provisions. By omitting Western Sahara, the EU reaffirms its position that it does not recognize any Moroccan sovereignty or authority over the region or its airspace.
The Saharawi Working Group on Natural Resources and Legal Affairs hailed the decision as a significant legal and political victory. In a statement, the group emphasized that the exclusion of Western Sahara from the updated air treaty represents an unmistakable acknowledgment of the territory’s sovereignty. The group’s president, Ambassador Oubi Bouchraya Bachir, noted, “By confining the treaty strictly to Morocco’s internationally recognized borders, the European Parliament has reinforced that Western Sahara is a separate and distinct territory over which Rabat exercises no administrative or sovereign mandate.”
The Working Group, tasked with safeguarding national heritage and related legal matters, stressed that this legislative move strengthens the international legal boundary separating Western Sahara from Morocco.
Meanwhile, the Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) also welcomed the vote, clarifying that the protocol—though technical in nature—merely updates the agreement to reflect Croatia’s EU accession without altering its territorial scope. The observatory reiterated the ECJ’s 2018 ruling that EU-Morocco agreements cannot apply to Western Sahara, stating, “The Court concluded that the air agreement cannot be interpreted as extending to Western Sahara.”
The European Commission has consistently upheld this interpretation, instructing EU carriers that, in accordance with EU jurisprudence, the air agreement “does not apply to flights connecting EU member states with Western Sahara.”
