The European Parliament has endorsed a revised protocol under the EU-Morocco air services agreement, explicitly excluding Western Sahara from its scope. This decision aligns with rulings from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which affirm Western Sahara as a distinct and separate territory from Morocco.
The updated protocol, approved earlier this month, adjusts the original agreement to account for Croatia’s EU membership since July 2013, without altering its core provisions. By excluding Western Sahara, the EU has made clear its stance against recognizing any Moroccan sovereignty over the region or its airspace.
The Sahrawi Working Group on Natural Resources and Legal Affairs hailed the parliamentary vote as a significant legal and political milestone. In a statement, the group emphasized that the exclusion of Western Sahara from the air agreement represents an “undeniable recognition of Sahrawi sovereignty.”
“By restricting the agreement strictly to Morocco’s internationally recognized borders, the European Parliament has reaffirmed that Western Sahara remains a separate territory where Rabat exercises no administrative or sovereign authority,” declared Oubi Bouchraya Bachir, chair of the working group.
The group noted that this legislative measure strengthens the international legal boundary separating Western Sahara from Morocco, reinforcing the territory’s distinct status.
Meanwhile, the Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) also welcomed the vote, clarifying that while the protocol is a technical update to accommodate Croatia’s EU accession, it does not alter the territorial scope of the air agreement.
The observatory reiterated the CJEU’s 2018 ruling, which established that EU-Morocco agreements cannot extend to Western Sahara. It pointed out that the European Commission has consistently upheld this interpretation, instructing EU airlines that the air agreement “does not apply to flights connecting EU territory to Western Sahara.”
