Judge: EU-Morocco pacts not applicable to Western Sahara
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A judge says that European Union agreements on closer ties and trade with Morocco shouldn't apply to Western Sahara amid tensions over the disputed territory.
Advocate General Melchior Wathelet said in a legal opinion Tuesday that Western Sahara isn't a part of Morocco, and EU member countries have never recognized the north African country's sovereignty over the territory.
Wathelet said that neither an EU-Morocco accord on closer ties nor a trade pact in agriculture and fisheries should apply there.
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Morocco suspended contacts with the EU after Europe's top court annulled in December their fisheries and agriculture agreement because it included the mineral-rich territory, which Morocco considers to be its "southern provinces."
Opinions such as Wathelet's aren't legally binding, but are respected by EU courts in most cases.