EU parlamentet stemmer nej til fiskeriaftale med Marokko

Med stemmerne 326 i mod og 296 for forslaget til en forlængelse af fiskeriaftalen med Marokko, er EU kommissionen sendt til tælling af EU-parlamentet.

EU-parlamentet stemte klart nej, af tre grunde:
1. At Vestsahara ikke er udeladt af aftalen, og at der ikke kunne gives garantier for at den lokale befolkning ville få gavn af aftalen. Aftalen vil derfor være i strid med international lov.
2. At fiskeriet ud for Marokkos kyst ikke er bæredygtigt og at fiskebestandene i området er overfiskede.
3. Og ikke mindst, at det økonomisk er en dårlig aftale for EUs skatteydere, der skal betale prisen for en, for EU, urentabel aftale.

Afrika Kontakt har opfordret alle danske medlemmer af EU parlamentet til at stemme nej til aftalen.

Informationsmedarbejder i Afrika Kontakt, Morten Nielsen siger:
Det er en sejr for os der ønsker, at der skal være en løsning af konflikten i Vestsahara. Vi har i lang tid modarbejdet en ny fiskeriaftale, og sammen med vores partnere i EU fået spørgsmålet på dagsordenen i EU. Det er en god julegave til de mange flygtninge der på 36. år sidder i flygtningelejrene i Algeriet.
Nu må  EU-kommissionen komme tilbage med en aftale, der tager højde for den hårde kritik som der var i EU- parlamentet, og som gav sig udtryk i at et klart flertal stemte imod fiskeriaftalen med Marokko.

Nedenfor er der yderligere informationer om afstemningen. Nederst på denne side kan du læse Afrika Kontakts appel til de danske medlemmer af EU-parlamentet om at stemme nej:

The EU fisheries in Western Sahara have today been voted down in the European Parliament. Reports made for and by the EU institutions have already shown that the agreement is a waste of money, destroying the environment and in violation of international law. EU fleet must now return from Western Sahara.

Today’s plenary vote in the European Parliament, over EU fisheries in Western Sahara, took place around 11:30 today.

The parliament was voting over whether to accept the 1 year extension of the EU fisheries in Western Sahara. The extension was approved by a tiny minority accepted by the Council of Ministers this spring, as the former 2007-2011 agreement expired in March.

Reports done for the European Commission has showed that the EU fisheries in Western Sahara is a complete waste of EU’s taxpayers money, and contributes to destruction of marine life offshore Western Sahara. In addition, the Parliament’s own legal service had already concluded that the agreement is in violation of international law, since Western Sahara is not part of Morocco, and the people of the territory have never approved the fisheries

This autumn, both the parliament’s Budget Committee and the Development Committee recommended that the fisheries be stopped. In the Fisheries Committee, the rapporteur Carl Haglund from Finland also recommended a rejection. However, a small minority of the fisheries committee managed to change the conclusion of the Haglund report so it appeared in favour in stead of rejecting the agreement.

The vote today, was over whether to approve or reject the changed and nonsensical Haglund report which had been amended to accept the controversial fisheries.

The result was that 326 voted against the report, thus demanding the fisheries to stop.

296 parliamentarians, mostly following the Spanish fisheries interests, voted in favour of the Haglund report. A number also abstained.

The consequence is that the EU fleet has to immediately stop fisheries in the parliament and return home from the occupied territories of Western Sahara.

Spanish fisheries interests are already trying to push for a new and illegal 4 year fisheries agreement in the occupied waters from beginning of 2012.

Western Sahara Resource Watch has since 2006 been working to stop the EU fisheries in the occupied Western Sahara. Help us to protect the rights of the Saharawis by making a donation.