This document is an excerpt from the EUR-Lex website
Document 62019TN0344
Case T-344/19: Action brought on 10 June 2019 –Polisario Front v Council
Case T-344/19: Action brought on 10 June 2019 –Polisario Front v Council
Case T-344/19: Action brought on 10 June 2019 –Polisario Front v Council
OJ C 270, 12.8.2019, p. 33–34
(BG, ES, CS, DA, DE, ET, EL, EN, FR, HR, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SL, FI, SV)
12.8.2019 |
EN |
Official Journal of the European Union |
C 270/33 |
Action brought on 10 June 2019 –Polisario Front v Council
(Case T-344/19)
(2019/C 270/35)
Language of the case: French
Parties
Applicant: Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (Polisario Front) (represented by: G. Devers, lawyer)
Defendant: Council of the European Union
Form of order sought
The applicant claims that the Court should:
— |
declare its action for annulment admissible; |
— |
annul the contested decision; |
— |
order the Council to pay the costs. |
Pleas in law and main arguments
In support of the action brought against Council Decision (EU) 2019/441 of 4 March 2019 on the conclusion of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco, the Implementation Protocol thereto and the Exchange of Letters accompanying the Agreement (OJ 2019 L 77, p. 4), the applicant relies on eleven pleas in law.
1. |
First plea in law, alleging the Council’s lack of competence to adopt the contested decision, in so far as the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco do not have the competence to conclude an international agreement applicable to Western Sahara instead of the Sahrawi people, represented by the Polisario Front. |
2. |
Second plea in law, alleging failure to comply with the obligation to examine the question of respect for fundamental rights and for international humanitarian law, in so far as the Council failed to examine that question before adopting the contested decision. |
3. |
Third plea in law, alleging breach, on the part of the Council, of its obligation to execute the judgments of the Court, in so far as the contested decision disregards the grounds of the Court’s judgments of 27 February 2018, Western Sahara Campaign UK (C-266/16, EU:C:2018:118). |
4. |
Fourth plea in law, alleging breach of the essential principles and values guiding the Union’s action on the international scene, since:
|
5. |
Fifth plea in law, alleging breach of the principle of protection of legitimate expectations, in so far as the contested decision is contrary to the declarations of the European Union which has consistently reiterated the need to observe the principles of self-determination and of the relative effect of treaties. |
6. |
Sixth plea in law, alleging misapplication of the principle of proportionality since, given the separate and distinct status of Western Sahara, the intangible character of the right to self-determination and the status of third party of the Sahrawi people, it was not for the Council to carry out a balancing exercise between the alleged ‘benefits’ from the Fisheries Agreement and its impact on Sahrawi natural resources. |
7. |
Seventh plea in law, alleging conflict with the Common Fisheries Policy since, in accordance with the agreement concluded by the contested decision, Union vessels will have access to the fishery resources of the Sahrawi people, without its consent, in exchange for a financial contribution paid to the Moroccan authorities, although Western Sahara waters are not Moroccan ‘waters’ for the purposes of Articles 61 and 62 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. |
8. |
Eighth plea in law, alleging breach of the right to self-determination since:
|
9. |
Ninth plea in law, alleging infringement of the principle of the relative effect of treaties since the contested decision denies the Sahrawi people’s status of third party to EU-Morocco relations and imposes international obligations on the Sahrawi people concerning its national territory and its natural resources, without its consent. |
10. |
Tenth plea in law, alleging violations of international humanitarian law and international criminal law since:
|
11. |
Eleventh plea in law, alleging breach, on the part of the Union, of its obligations under the law of international responsibility since, by concluding an international agreement with the Kingdom of Morocco that is applicable to Western Sahara, the contested decision is endorsing serious violations of international law committed by the Moroccan occupying forces against the Sahrawi people and supporting the situation arising from those violations. |