European parliament excludes western Sahara from eu-Morocco air deal

The European Parliament has endorsed an updated air services agreement with Morocco, explicitly excluding Western Sahara from its scope. This decision reflects rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which has consistently treated Western Sahara as a territory separate and distinct from the Kingdom of Morocco.

On July 8, lawmakers approved the protocol, which primarily extends the application of the existing EU-Morocco air services agreement to Croatia—a new EU member since July 1, 2013—without altering its core provisions. The exclusion of Western Sahara underscores the EU’s position that neither Moroccan sovereignty nor its airspace extends to the disputed territory.

The Saharawi Working Group on Natural Resources and Legal Affairs hailed the vote as a significant legal and political victory. In a statement, the group emphasized that formally omitting Western Sahara from the updated agreement represents an unmistakable recognition of Sahrawi sovereignty.

«By restricting the treaty strictly to Morocco’s internationally recognized borders, the European Parliament has reaffirmed that Western Sahara is a separate territory over which Rabat holds no administrative or sovereign authority,» declared Ambassador Oubi Bouchraya Bachir, Chair of the Working Group.

The group further noted that this legislative move reinforces the international legal boundary between Western Sahara and Morocco, strengthening the case for self-determination.

The International Observatory for Monitoring Western Sahara’s Natural Resources, Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW), also welcomed the decision. While describing the protocol as a technical update to accommodate Croatia’s EU accession, the Observatory stressed that it does not expand the territorial scope of the aviation agreement.

WSRW pointed to a 2018 CJEU ruling confirming that EU-Morocco agreements apply only within Morocco’s internationally recognized borders. «The Court concluded that the air services agreement cannot be interpreted to include Western Sahara,» the Observatory stated. It added that the European Commission has repeatedly affirmed this interpretation, advising EU airlines that the agreement does not cover flights to or from Western Sahara.