The position of the European Union in the conflict of the Western Sahara, a palpable evidence (one more) of the primacy of its economic and political interests over the promotion of democracy and human rights.

Abstract

The peace, the stability and the perspectives of integration and economic development in the Maghreb depend mostly on the resolution of the conflict of the Western Sahara, on the base of the resolutions of the United Nations. The full application of the Peace Plan negotiated freely in 1988 by Morocco and the POLISARIO Front, which contemplates the celebration of a referendum of self-determination, continues being the right way to proceed to the decolonization of the territory. In the European Union we can see the contradictions of a system that, in spite of the evolution of the last years, gives priority of its economic and political interests over the promotion of democracy and human rights. So, while the Commission negotiates with Morocco the exploitation of the natural resources of the territory (fish, phosphates, hydrocarbons...) and advances towards a space of free trade with this State, violating the International Law, the Parliament claims the right of self-determination of the Saharan people, its permanent sovereignty on the natural resources of the territory, and tries, without success, to limit the scope of the agreements for his exploitation, and to restrict the application of the Agreement of Association and the future advanced Statute to the Moroccan territory, excluding, therefore the Western Sahara. On the other hand, the violations of human rights of the Saharan population in the occupied territories, denounced by the principal humanitarian organizations and by the European Parliament have not been an obstacle in order that the mentioned Agreement of Association of the EU with Morocco, which contains the called «democratic clause», continues being applied by absolute normality.