Source: European Parliament
29.10.2025
Question for oral answer O-000037/2025
to the Council
Rule 142
João Oliveira, Rudi Kennes, Pernando Barrena Arza, Estrella Galán, Danilo Della Valle, Isabel Serra Sánchez, Irene Montero, Lynn Boylan, Martin Günther, Jonas Sjöstedt, Hanna Gedin
on behalf of the The Left Group
On 4 October 2024, the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) were announced in Joined Cases C-778/21 P and C-798/21 P[1] and Joined Cases C-779/21 P and C-799/21 P[2]. The CJEU judgments dismissed the appeals brought by the Commission and the Council against the judgments of the General Court of 29 September 2021 (in Case T-279/19[3] and Joined Cases T-344/19 and T-356/19[4]) concerning the trade agreements between the EU and the Kingdom of Morocco, which had declared the respective trade agreements to be null and void.
The judgments reiterate that the Polisario Front is ‘a privileged interlocutor in the process conducted under the auspices of the United Nations with a view to determining the future status of Western Sahara… the decisions of which are binding on all the EU Member States and institutions’.
They also state that the implementation of any agreement between the EU and the Kingdom of Morocco concerning the territory of Western Sahara must receive the consent of the people of Western Sahara and their legitimate representatives, as their right to self-determination would be violated otherwise.
Recent reports suggest that the Commission is preparing to apply an agreement that does not override the CJEU rulings, introducing the notion of ‘presumed consent’.
The agreements, concluded that disregard the CJEU rulings, have deprived the Sahrawi people of access to their resources, which have been illegally exploited by Morocco, creating losses for which they must be compensated.
In the light of the CJEU judgments, we ask the Council:
- 1.Has the Polisario Front, the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people, participated in the trade negotiations, as required by CJEU rulings?
- 2.Does the Council plan to negotiate with the Polisario Front regarding compensation for the losses resulting from the trade agreements between the EU and the Kingdom of Morocco?
- 3.What measures will be taken in order to respect and to fulfil the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination, in line with UN resolutions?
Submitted: 29.10.2025
Lapses: 30.1.2026
- [1] Judgment of the Court of Justice of 4⁰October 2024, European Commission and Council of the European Union v Front populaire pour la libération de la Saguia el-Hamra et du Rio de oro (Front Polisario), Joined Cases C-778/21 P and C-798/21 P, ECLI:EU:C:2024:833.
- [2] Judgment of the Court of Justice of 4 October 2024, European Commission and Council of the European Union v Front populaire pour la libération de la Saguia el-Hamra et du Rio de oro (Front Polisario), Joined Cases C-779/21 P and C-799/21 P, ECLI:EU:C:2024:835.
- [3] Judgment of the General Court of 29⁰September 2021, Front populaire pour la libération de la Saguia el-Hamra et du Rio de oro (Front Polisario) v Council of the European Union, Case T-279/19, ECLI:EU:T:2021:639.
- [4] Judgment of the General Court of 29⁰September 2021, Front populaire pour la libération de la Saguia el-Hamra et du Rio de oro (Front Polisario) v Council of the European Union, Joined Cases T-344/19 and T-356/19, ECLI:EU:T:2021:640.