The controversial EU-Morocco fisheries deal, prolonged by the Council last February against the will of Commissioner Maria Damanaki and key MEPs, is not only questionable on human rights grounds – it’s a bad deal financially as well, according to a media report.
The four-year old agreement, under which EU has paid Morocco €144 million over the period to fish Moroccan waters, primarily by Spanish fleets, expired last February.
Included in the agreement were provisions that Morocco, which has occupied West Sahara since 1975 contrary to UN resolutions, had to show that Morocco’s proceeds from those waters went to the Western Saharan population, which Morocco has failed to do.
Legal experts in the European Parliament, as well as other independent experts on international law, have found the agreement illegal, and Fisheries Commissioner Damanaki was said to want to scrap the agreement altogether. According to press reports, she was overruled by her colleagues in the Commission, and the Council later decided on a one-year extension.
Much of the action was based on a secret report ordered by the Commission, which NGOs had fought to get access to.
According to the EUobserver news site, which says it has seen the report from the Oceanic Développement consultants, the report shows that neither side has gained much from the agreement.
“Each euro spent by the EU only generated 83 cents turnover and 65 cents direct and indirect value added accruing to the EU,” the report is quoted to state. “These are the lowest cost-benefit ratios of support to the European fleet across all ongoing bilateral agreements.”
The report also shows that the deal has contributed to very few new jobs in Morocco, but that some 100 EU vessels fish the waters have greatly contributed to overfishing the stocks.