This was the whole meaning of the non-renewal of the “Western Sahara” intergroup: to prohibit the last vestige of the interference of third states in the European Parliament and to oblige the Polisario front to adopt the same rules as any “stakeholder” vis-à-vis -towards the European institutions, namely entering the EP with a temporary badge, reporting one’s presence on the premises and recording the meetings held on site – in short, place your advocacy in the rules of the art of European lobbying, and not in the opaque functioning of a singular intergroup, with partisan political objectives.
Since this measure, what relays does the Polisario maintain within the European Parliament? Loyal political allies, namely the groups The Left and Greens/EFA – who sponsored and tried to save, until last December, the “Western Sahara” intergroup, and some national delegations or individuals from the S&D group; commissions with targeted themes, “International Trade”, “Human Rights”, “Agriculture” and “Fisheries”. And finally, the delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries, chaired for five years by a deputy from Brothers of Italywhose party and group, ECR, manage to maintain a fragile balance between Italy’s economic commitments with the Algerian regime (notably through hydrocarbons), the condemnations of this same regime by the group’s French delegation in Strasbourg , without especially taking into account the desire of the Italian Prime Minister, obsessed with the migration issue, to establish relationships and partnerships with the whole of Africa, Morocco in the lead.
It is in “INTA”, and more particularly at the top of this Commission responsible for EU trade policies with third countries, made up of 43 full deputies, and as many substitutes, that we find the dream team supports to the Polisario. Of the five MEPs who make up the bureau of this committee, three sat in the “Western Sahara” intergroup. Starting with its president: Bernd Lange, German socialist, MEP for thirty years! Its first vice-president, Manon Aubry, co-president of The Left group, and the fourth vice-president, Kathleen Van Brempt, Flemish socialist who served in the previous mandate in the key position – in this commission – of permanent rapporteur on the Maghreb .
“In line with the support for the Moroccan character of the Sahara displayed by France, we will have to count on the reaction of the French coordinators of Renew (Marie-Pierre Vedrenne) and Patriotes pour l’Europe (Thierry Mariani), the latter having already called for a similar meeting with Morocco.”
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On December 2, INTA MEPs welcomed the European Commission for an exchange of views on the judgments of the Court of Justice of the EU of October 4, 2024. If the representatives of the Commission’s DGs, Trade and Taxud ( Taxation and Customs Union), were able to unite their voices… to say nothing about the future of trade agreements with Morocco, the new rapporteur on the Maghreb, Lynn Boylan, elected Irish member of the Greens, started his speech with a clear message: “The left welcomes the Court’s decision», before asking the Commission to enter into negotiations with the Polisario.
As one is never as well served as by oneself, the Maghreb monitoring group immediately invites, for the end of January, representatives of the Polisario Front, for an exchange of views on “the implementation in Western Sahara of EU-Morocco trade agreements relating to fishing, trade in agricultural products and fishing, and the labeling of agricultural products originating from Western Sahara“. Although the organizers of this meeting favored being behind closed doors to discuss with their independence comrades, it is already a necessary break with the confidential gatherings of the “Western Sahara” intergroup: are officially on the EP’s agenda the date and purpose of the meeting; and above all the partisan nature of the organization responds to the pluralism of the exchanges since all political groups will be able to attend. In line with the support for the Moroccan character of the Sahara displayed by France, we will have to count on the reaction of the French coordinators of Renew (Marie-Pierre Vedrenne) and Patriotes pour l’Europe (Thierry Mariani), the latter having already demanded a similar meeting with Morocco.
If there is no respite from the maneuvers of the European far left, it is also because time is running out – as it is for the European Commission, summoned to resolve, in 2025, the impossible equation between the conclusions of a Court in Luxembourg and the affirmation, not only in words but through proof, of the importance given to the strategic partnership with Rabat.
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