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Rabat — A confidential memo from Denmark’s Foreign Ministry, obtained by investigative outlet Danwatch, reveals that the EU plans to sign a new trade agreement with Morocco on October 4 that will include goods from the disputed Western Sahara region in southern Morocco.
The document shows Denmark has already pledged its support for the deal, even as several European legal experts raise objections that it contradicts the EU Court of Justice’s 2021 ruling. That ruling struck down a previous Morocco trade deal, declaring Western Sahara a “separate and non-autonomous territory.”
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told parliament’s European Affairs Committee that his government will vote for the agreement despite these legal concerns.
Revived agreement maintains controversial terms
According to Danwatch, the new agreement builds on a 2019 text and will continue allowing imports of products from Morocco’s Western Sahara region. The country’s customs will oversee these goods, which will receive the same preferential tariff treatment as products from mainland Morocco.
The memo states the deal aims to promote “sustainable development” for populations in the southern provinces. However, experts cited in the report say the agreement fails to guarantee effective Sahrawi participation in managing their natural resources.
Brussels seeks middle ground
European platform Euractiv reported that the European Commission is simultaneously working to revive the Morocco-EU fishing agreement, which the EU Court cancelled in late 2024.
Brussels seeks a middle ground that avoids diplomatic conflict with Rabat while formally respecting European law. The compromise would require distinct labeling for Western Sahara products, listing the region as the origin zone, but would keep them under Morocco’s preferential customs regime.
Moroccan authorities would continue issuing all official documents and certificates of origin — a provision that would reportedly preserve Rabat’s administrative sovereignty.
A senior EU official told Euractiv: “The European Union wants to respect the legal framework imposed by the Court, but it has no interest in compromising trade with Morocco, its strategic partner and main agricultural and fisheries supplier in the region.”
Meanwhile, Morocco firmly rejects any distinction between its Western Sahara and the rest of its territory, viewing any separate classification of Saharan products as an attack on its territorial integrity.
Rabat insists on an “all-or-nothing” principle: any EU agreement must cover its entire national territory, including the southern provinces, or be abandoned entirely.
Background: years of legal battles
The proposed agreement marks the latest chapter in a lengthy legal dispute between the EU and Morocco over Western Sahara’s status.
In 2018, the EU Court of Justice struck down an EU-Morocco fisheries agreement, ruling that it violated international law by failing to obtain consent from the Sahrawi people. The court maintained that Western Sahara holds a separate legal status from Morocco under international law.
Three years later, in 2021, the same court revoked another trade agreement with Morocco on similar grounds. The judges found that the EU had failed to ensure the Sahrawi people — Western Sahara’s indigenous inhabitants — had given their consent to resource exploitation in their territory.
These rulings created a legal framework that European institutions now struggle to navigate. The courts have consistently held that Western Sahara remains a “non-autonomous territory” under international law, distinct from Morocco, despite Rabat’s administrative control.
Danish memorandum sparks controversy
Denmark’s position on the new trade deal has triggered sharp criticism within Morocco itself. The Justice and Development Party (PJD), Morocco’s main Islamist opposition party, condemned the Danish memorandum earlier this month, pointing out that it still challenges Morocco’s territorial integrity over Western Sahara.
PJD Secretary-General Abdelilah Benkirane called the Danish document “a blatant provocation” and urged the Moroccan government to take a firm stance against it. The party argued that Denmark’s approach undermines Morocco’s sovereignty and contradicts the growing international recognition of Moroccan control over the territory.
The leaked memo has exposed the internal debates within European governments as they balance legal principles against strategic interests. Denmark’s willingness to support an agreement that its own legal experts question reveals the difficult choices facing EU member states when facing an increasingly assertive Morocco they see as an indispensable strategic ally in a wide range of areas.
Shifting diplomatic landscape
The EU’s approach to Western Sahara takes place against a backdrop of major diplomatic shifts that have strengthened Morocco’s position.
In December 2020, the US recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, a decision that fundamentally altered the international consensus on the dispute.
France followed suit in July 2024, with President Emmanuel Macron declaring that Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara represents “the only basis” for resolving the decades-old conflict. Spain had already shifted its position in 2022, backing the North African country’s autonomy plan despite protests from Algeria, which supports the separatist Polisario Front.
These diplomatic victories have given Rabat significant leverage in negotiations with Brussels. Morocco now enters talks knowing that major global powers support its territorial integrity, even as European courts maintain a different legal interpretation.
Growing investment in southern provinces
Morocco has invested billions in developing its southern provinces, building ports, renewable energy facilities, and transportation infrastructure. International investment in the southern provinces keeps growing, creating economic facts on the ground that reinforce the country’s sovereignty.
The North African country presents these investments as evidence that its administration benefits local populations and drives development.
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