Fresh Plaza
The Plenary Session of the European Parliament, which was held in Strasbourg on Tuesday and Wednesday, rejected a resolution proposal from a large group of MEPs to consult the EU Court of Justice to see if the extension of the Morocco Agreement to the territories of the Sahara was valid, and then approved its extension.
The area devoted to fruits and vegetables in Western Sahara will grow from the current 900 hectares to 5,000 hectares, according to a report from the Commission.
The plenary session held two votes on Wednesday to approve the Agreement for the modification of Protocols 1 and 4 of the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement with Morocco, which entails the extension of the concessions for agricultural products originating in Morocco to those originating in Western Sahara. The first vote was against the proposal made by a group of parliamentarians who wanted to consult the Court of Justice if this Agreement was valid. The second vote, which was vote positively, gave way to a non-legislative resolution approving the agreement that the Commission had already negotiated. In this way, the trade concessions included in the Agreement with Morocco will be officially extended to the production of the Sahara.
The area devoted to fruits and vegetables in Western Sahara will grow from the current 900 hectares to 5,000 hectares, which would lead production to increase to up to 500,000 tons. This, based on the Agricultural Plan of this region included in the Green Morocco Plan, which is collected in the European External Action Service Report on the benefits that the extension to this region of the tariff preferences contemplated in the Association Agreement with Morocco would have for the population of Western Sahara. According to FEPEX, the production’s schedule and markets coincide fully with Spanish productions.
The EP Plenary’s approval of the non-legislative resolution brings to an end the consultation phase in Parliament of the Agreement between the EU and the Kingdom of Morocco to modify protocols 1 and 4 of the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement. Final approval by the Council of the EU is pending for it to enter into force.
Source: fepex.es
