Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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214. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the position Ireland will take at Council on 2 October 2025 regarding the signature and provisional application of the proposed amendments to the EU-Morocco Agreement arising from the CJEU rulings regarding Western Sahara; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52759/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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On 4 October 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) upheld the ruling of the General Court of 29 September 2021 annulling the Council Decision on the conclusion of the 2018 Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco. This agreement concerned the amendment of Protocols 1 and 4 to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Kingdom of Morocco, of the other part.

Ireland has taken note of the judgment of the CJEU and the specifics of the judgment with regard to Western Sahara.

In July 2025, the Commission submitted to the Council a Recommendation for a Council Decision concerning the opening of negotiations on the amendment of the 2018 Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco.

The negotiations on the replacement agreement commenced in September with a view to meeting the deadline of 4 October 2025, and are not yet fully concluded in Brussels. As the negotiations progress, Ireland continues to keep all aspects of the process under review to ensure that any new proposed arrangements respect the conditions established by the Court, and the duty of the European Union to comply with both EU and international law. Ireland will continue to be guided by these principles in finalising our own position.

Ireland’s long-standing position on Western Sahara is one of full support for the UN-led process, including the MINURSO Mission, and the efforts of Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, to achieve a political solution to this long-standing dispute. It is our hope that these efforts will help achieve a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.

Both Ireland and the European Union support the efforts of the United Nations to find an acceptable political solution which would provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara, consistent with the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations. Ireland does not have a view on the outcome of that solution so long as it is approved in a genuine exercise of self-determination.