Rabat – The head of the Delegation of the European Union (EU) in Morocco, Eneko Landaburu, regretted the vote of the European Parliament (EP), on Wednesday, against the proposed extension of the Protocol of the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement, saying that the prospect of a new agreement is “still totally open.”
“I am sorry for our relations with Morocco,” lamented the European diplomat in a statement released on Wednesday.
“Against the opinion of the Member States of the European Commission and Mrs. Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the European Parliament voted against the proposed extension of the Protocol of the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement,” Landaburu said.
Thus, the protocol ends after its provisional application since February 28th, he noted, recalling that the European Parliament adopted, on Wednesday, a resolution asking the European Commission to propose a new protocol.
The agreement, he said, “should be sustainable at the economic, environmental and social levels and beneficial to the two parties.”
The European lawmakers on Wednesday rejected the extension of the fisheries agreement, currently in force, as 326 MEPs voted against, 296 in favour and 58 abstained.
