2023-06-10 22:20:00
Spanish officials fear the consequences of a possible non-renewal of the fishing agreement between Brussels and Rabat, according to which the Kingdom authorizes more than 132 European vessels, most of them Spanish, to fish in its territorial waters.
In any case, this is the spirit of the fishing agreements signed in 2019, which are due to expire on July 17. These grant licenses to 132 vessels from 10 European countries, 93 are Spanish, and the rest are divided between Portugal, France, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, the Netherlands, Ireland , Italy and even the United Kingdom.
Mortgaged by the famous court decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), their renewal remains somewhat improbable although this is the first track considered by the EU which is awaiting the verdict of its awaited appeal. for the end of the year.
It should be noted that the CJEU had decided in September 2021 to suspend the validity of the trade agreements concluded between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco, which include fishery and agricultural products, on the basis of an appeal filed by the Polisario separatists. , a decision that is still under appeal pending a final decision on the matter.
Also, for this period the fishing vessels find themselves obliged to withdraw from Moroccan territorial waters, hence the anger of the countries concerned and particularly Spain.
This is going to cause huge losses for Spanish shipowners and fishermen. Along these lines, Spanish media reported that Luis Planas, Spain’s Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, called on the European Commission to ” continue negotiations with Morocco in order to reach a new agreement for maritime fishing, before the expiry of the current protocol.
The government official, in an interview with journalists on the sidelines of the opening of the Fourth World Conference on Vine and Wine in Cádiz, expressed regret over“the possibility that the current agreement might end without negotiating a new framework”indicating that “ competence in this respect lies with the European Commission, which has the power to sign agreements with third countries”.
For his part, Carmine Crespo, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development of the Andalusian regional government, called on the central government to“pressurize Brussels to renew the fisheries agreement with Morocco before it expires”warning regarding “the negative repercussions of a non-renewal of the agreement on the profitability of the fishing fleet in Andalusia and on jobs and the future of the maritime fishing sector in this region”.
The official told the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of his country’s government, “local fishermen’s concern regarding the expiration of the agreement and the possibility of not renewing it”, stressing at the same time that “regarding 500 people work on board regarding 47 vessels present in the ports of the southern Andalusian region”.
It should be noted that the European Commission denied last week, to Hespress, “the existence of ongoing negotiations with Morocco regarding the aforementioned agreement”, stressing that the latter were suspended “pending the decision of the European Court of justice, which might be handed down next month.
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