EU Makes it clear: Polisario Not Entitled to Speak on Behalf of Sahrawis

The EU External Action Service (EEAS) has rejected Polisario’s claim to represent the Sahrawi population and expressed support for a political and mutually acceptable solution to the regional dispute over the Sahara in line with UN resolutions.

“The Polisario is not entitled to claim exclusive representativeness of the population of the Sahara,” said the EEAS representative, Nicolas Bulte, at an EU parliamentary committee debate on the Morocco-EU fisheries deal.

EEAS governs, under the leadership of Federica Mogherini, EU diplomatic relations with non-member countries and leads the Union’s foreign and security policy.

Bulte recalled that an earlier verdict by the European Court of Justice had stated that the Polisario is not entitled to defend the commercial interests of the population of the Sahara.

The ECJ chief advocate general had also stressed in 2016 that the Polisario is not a legitimate organization for contesting the Morocco-EU trade agreements, hence the Polisario has no legality to contest Morocco-EU deals.

Bulte also pointed to the EU’s principles not to recognize phony states nor to interfere in political processes led by the UN.

“This has always been our stand and we remain committed more than ever to back UN efforts to find a realistic, political and mutually acceptable solution in line with UN Security Council Resolutions,” he said.