HASSAN MASIKY
Washington / Morocco Board News– The European Parliament (EP) decision to reject a proposed extension of the European Union-Morocco “agreement on fishing” came at a delicate time for the Moroccan diplomacy. The resolution to scrap the EU-Morocco fisheries deal was approved with 326 votes for, 296 votes against and 58 abstentions. EP’s resolution is an embarrassing episode for the Moroccans even though it is an inconsequential victory for the Algeria backed separatists of the Polisario guerilla.
The EU pronouncement is not a departure from its official position of neutrality in the Western Sahara conflict, with each EU member adopting an individual stand on Morocco’s repossession of its Southern Provinces. This particular EP action will have no long-term political consequences on the Algerian Moroccan conflict over the Western Sahara, which is at the heart of this diplomatic scrimmage.
The decision to cancel the fisheries agreement will not have a significant impact on the Moroccan economy; to the contrary, several Moroccan environmental groups and domestic fishing organizations opposed to the EU-Moroccan agreement welcomed the news. By chasing the European fishing boats off its waters, Morocco is protecting fish stocks and creating more jobs for the Moroccan fishing industry. Spain was the only true loser in this affair.
So, how did Morocco find itself in this awkward position? The answer to this unspoken question spotlights the tepid performance and subdued vigilance of the Moroccan diplomats leading up to this diplomatic “incident”. The Moroccan Government overreaction to the EP decision and scrambling by Spain and Portugal to formulate “official” positions on this matter underline the unpreparedness of Moroccan diplomats to counter a new “low level”, high-tech grassroots diplomacy adopted by their foes.
The fact that 326 Members of the European Parliament (MEP) voted against a resolution that cast a doubt over the legality of Morocco presence in the Western Sahara is a serious matter that raise serious questions about the aptitude, competency and expertise of the Moroccan diplomats in Brussels, Strasbourg and Rabat. Contrary to what some Moroccan officials are asserting, the rejection of the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement should not have come as a surprise to Moroccan diplomats. This was a long term, well-orchestrated diplomatic campaign by the Polisario with the financial backing of the Algerian Government and the assistance of Left wing media outlets and socialist and communist MEPs.
While the Moroccan diplomats continue to rely on the arm-chair diplomacy in their approach to explain their position in the vital Western Sahara dossier, Algeria backed Polisario operatives were working the blog sphere, European NGOs, Green activists, and progressive newspapers.
The pro-Polisario groups, mostly left wing and communists, worked over a period to plant news stories highlighting the harmful environmental aspects of the Morocco-EU agreement. Several local small newspapers in England, Scandinavia, Spain, Italy and Germany carried articles denouncing the long-term environmental impact of overfishing off the Coasts of Morocco.
Polisario operative purposely confused the environmental aspects of the Morocco-EU agreement with its political characteristic that involves the Western Sahara conflict. Several of the MEP in fact voted the agreement down because it was “not environmentally and economically beneficial” to the local population. The inclusion of a “political language” in the EP declaration was an attempt by the Polisario to turn a fishing agreement into an EU disavowal of Morocco’s legal presence in the Sahara . Reports of Spanish and Portuguese lawmakers voting errors highlight the effectiveness of the ruse. The same trick worked to win over the large and vote rich EP Green Caucus.
However, the most significant breakdown of the Moroccan diplomacy in this instance remains the inability of the Moroccan representatives to understand the importance and impacts of blogs, online activism, and “the internet diplomacy”. The Algerian financed grassroots campaign in “Scandinavia” to discredit Morocco paid off in this case. The Finnish MEP Carl Haglund, who drafted the anti-Morocco report, is in fact the Chairman of the Swedish People’s Party group and was active in its Youth organization, two organizations sympathetic to the Polisario and the Algerian position. Polisario activists used grassroots and populous method to win over several Nordic organizations with a bonanza of diplomatic fallout.
Moroccan observers continue to wonder if the Moroccan diplomacy in its current state is capable of moving beyond the old fashion diplomacy to the new and tech savvy world of the 21st century international affairs. In the age of Ipads, smart phones and laptops, every citizen with a computer is a diplomat.
