Hard blow for the Polisario: The EU and the agricultural agreement with Morocco: stability and development of the global economic partnership of the Moroccan Sahara

HIBAPRESS-RABAT-MAP
The European Union reaffirmed, in its 2023 report, the positive socio-economic impact of the agricultural agreement with Morocco and the full benefit of the population of the Southern Provinces of the Kingdom from the provisions of this agreement.
The publication of this annual report, by the services of the European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS), comes the day after the setback inflicted by the Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the EU, who stripped the “polisario” of all representativeness and reaffirmed the relevance of the agricultural agreement between Rabat and Brussels.
The report, which is part of the implementation of the agreement in the form of an exchange of letters, modifying Protocols 1 and 4 of the Morocco-EU Association Agreement, which entered into force on July 19 2019, commonly known as the ''Agricultural Agreement'', continues, like previous years, its positive tone, detailing point by point the multiple aspects of the benefits that this agreement brings to the population of the Southern Provinces of the Kingdom.
Doubly relevant, the report reflects, on the one hand, the quality of the Partnership between Morocco and the European Union, and testifies to the satisfactory implementation of the Agricultural Agreement, in particular thanks to the tools of dialogue and exchange of existing information between the two parties and deconstructs, on the other hand, and for the fifth time in a row, the propaganda fed by Algeria and the separatists in an attempt to call into question the legality of the Agreements between Morocco and the EU.
Supporting figures, the document confirms the positive impact of this Agreement on the socio-economic development of the Moroccan Sahara Regions, in terms of economic growth, production and export of agricultural and fishing products, creation jobs and investments.
Indeed, details the report, in 2022, 203,000 tonnes of products originating from the Southern Provinces of the Kingdom were exported to the EU compared to around 100,000 tonnes before the application of the agreement. The value of exports from the Southern Provinces to the EU amounted to 590 million Euros (6.410 billion DH).
Regarding the National Question, the report endorses the insistent request of the Security Council for a registration of the populations sequestered in Tindouf in Algeria and the importance of taking all the necessary measures to this end. He recalls the EU's resolute support for the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary General, Staffan De Mistura, and for the UN process, while standing ready to contribute to strengthening regional cooperation.
Through this report, which sounds like a dismissal to Algeria, the European Union attests to its commitment to ensuring the continuity of the commercial relationship with Morocco and illustrates, once again , the commitment of European institutions to the stability and development of the long-standing, strategic and comprehensive economic partnership with Morocco.