On Thursday 25 February, Morocco reported that it had suspended contact with European Union institutions over a court ruling invalidating their farm trade with Rabat and saying it should exclude the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
The EU lodged an appeal last week against a European Court decision announced on Dec. 10 to void the trade deal with Morocco in response to a suit filed by the Polisario Front, which wants independence for the Moroccan-controlled territory.
The complaint, brought to the court in 2012, involves trade of agricultural products. Reuters reported last month the government had decided to suspend contacts with the EU delegation in Rabat.
Moroccan farm trade in 2015 amounted to 43 billion dirhams (US$4.39 billion) and most of it was done with EU countries.
An EU source said the December court decision would have no direct impact on trade pending a ruling on the EU appeal. But Morocco's formal suspension of contacts could disrupt some 1.03 billion Euro (US$1.12 billion) of EU grants to the North African kingdom.
The EU and Morocco have struck agreements allowing duty-free quotas for agricultural products, such as tomatoes. The two sides also began negotiations in 2013 to form a deeper and broader free trade agreement.
Morocco has controlled most of Western Sahara since 1975 and claims sovereignty over the sparsely populated stretch of desert to its south.
Morocco's annexation of Western Sahara prompted a rebellion by the Polisario Front backed by Morocco's neighbour Algeria. The United Nations brokered a ceasefire in 1991, but talks have since failed to find a lasting settlement in Africa's longest-running territorial dispute.
(US$1 = 9.7966 Moroccan dirham)
Source: Reuters/ channelnewsasia.com
