An EU fisheries deal with Morocco remains valid as long as it does not involve the disputed region of Western Sahara, the bloc's top court ruled Tuesday, avoiding a clash between Brussels and Rabat. The European Court of Justice said the fisheries agreement concluded between the EU and Morocco "is valid in so far as it is not applicable to Western Sahara and to its adjacent waters."
"If the territory of Western Sahara were to be included within the scope of the fisheries agreement, that would be contrary to certain rules of general international law," it said. Morocco suspended ties with Brussels in 2016 after a lower EU court annulled an agriculture deal on similar grounds, although the ruling was later overturned and they are now pushing ahead with the pact.
The Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony controlled by Morocco where the Polisario Front group, backed by Algeria, is fighting for independence. The Polisario Front filed the legal appeals against both the farm and fisheries deals that led to the two cases coming before the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.
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