Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The EU-Morocco Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA), concluded in March 2019, allocates fishing opportunities for the EU in exchange for an overall financial contribution of €208 million. A substantial part of this contribution is used to promote the sustainable development of the fisheries economy in Morocco and the Western Sahara. When the process of negotiation began on the current FPA agreement, Ireland sought that any agreement should be more transparent and should include clear and specific reporting on the benefits of the Agreement in the Western Sahara.

Ireland has consistently emphasized that an agreement has to be consistent with the judgment of the Court of Justice handed down on 27 February 2018 in Case C-266/16. We take the content and form of the ‘Contribution of the Council Legal Service on the Draft amended Fisheries Agreement’ as evidence that the Council Legal Service considers entering into the presented agreement as fully consistent with the judgment of the Court of Justice handed down on 27 February 2018 in Case C-266/16. On the basis of this, Ireland supported the adoption of the Council decision on the amendment of the Fisheries Agreement and the Fisheries Protocol.

The question of the territorial applicability of certain EU-Morocco agreements is the subject of ongoing legal consideration at the European level. Ireland notes the October 2021 European Court of Justice ruling that annulled the EU’s previous approval of agriculture and fishing agreements that allowed Morocco to exports goods from Western Sahara. That decision is currently being appealed. A verdict is expected in the coming months.

Once the Court issues this verdict, Ireland will work together with our EU partners to carefully consider the decision and, depending on the outcome, how to fully enforce the court ruling to ensure compliance with European Union law.