EU air agreement with Morocco updated by European Parliament excludes Western Sahara

The European Parliament has formally endorsed an updated protocol to the Euro-Mediterranean aviation services agreement between the European Union (EU) and Morocco, explicitly excluding Western Sahara from its scope. This decision aligns with rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which previously determined that the territory is separate and distinct from Morocco’s internationally recognized borders.

The revised protocol, approved on July 8, extends the agreement’s application to Croatia—an EU member state since July 2013—without altering its core provisions. By doing so, the EU has reinforced its stance that it does not recognize Moroccan sovereignty or authority over Western Sahara, including its airspace.

A coalition of Sahrawi legal and resource advocates has hailed the vote as a significant legal and political milestone. In a statement, they described the exclusion as an unmistakable recognition of Sahrawi sovereignty, emphasizing that the updated agreement strictly confines its jurisdiction to Morocco’s internationally accepted frontiers.

Oubi Bouchraya Bachir, Ambassador and Chair of the Working Group on Natural Resources and Legal Affairs, underscored the decision’s importance: “By restricting the treaty to Morocco’s recognized borders, the European Parliament has reaffirmed that Western Sahara remains a distinct territory over which Rabat holds no administrative or sovereign mandate.”

The Working Group, dedicated to safeguarding the region’s national heritage and legal interests, noted that this legislative measure strengthens the international legal boundary separating Western Sahara from Morocco.

Meanwhile, the International Observatory for Western Sahara Resource Monitoring (WSRW) praised the outcome, clarifying that while the protocol is a technical update to accommodate Croatia’s EU accession, it does not expand the territorial reach of the aviation accord. The Observatory referenced the CJEU’s 2018 ruling, which concluded that the EU-Morocco air agreement cannot be interpreted to include Western Sahara.

It added that the European Commission has consistently upheld this interpretation, instructing EU carriers that the agreement does not apply to flights connecting EU member states with Western Sahara.