The disputed Western Sahara remains the driving force behind Morocco’s foreign policy, King Mohammed VI said in a rare speech on Friday.

Polisario responds after European Court of Justice rules that fisheries deal violated right to self-determination of Western Sahara's people

Morocco slams ECJ ruling that said the people of Western Sahara were not consulted before the 2019 deals were signed.

The CJEU has blocked the EU’s inclusion of Western Sahara in its trade and fishery agreements with Morocco. The bloc should now open talks with Polisario to reach a compromise trade deal and support U

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has repeatedly ruled that Western Sahara, a non-self-governing territory, must be treated separately from Morocco in trade agreements and resource exploitation. This legal stance highlights a critical issue: the ongoing activities of European companies extracting resources in Western Sahara without the consent of its people.

Friday's decision is the final ruling after several appeals by the Commission, the European Union's executive arm. The EU signed fishing and agriculture agreements with Morocco in 2019 that also covered products from the Western Sahara.

The EU institutions’ consultations with the people of the Western Sahara were insufficient to establish their consent to deals which concerned them, the court said.

On October 4, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is expected to announce its decision regarding an appeal from the French Confédération Paysanne against the French government’s authorization of agricultural imports from Western Sahara.