To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will seek the exclusion of Western Saharan waters from any new agreement to replace the EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement when it expires. (260835)

I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 12 January 2009, Official Report, column 382W.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the compatibility of the EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement with international law in respect of its application to waters off Western Sahara. (260956)

The EU-Morocco Fisheries agreement sets fishing priorities for EU Community vessels in the Moroccan fishing zone or, as defined in article 2 of the agreement, “in the waters over which the Kingdom of Morocco has sovereignty or jurisdiction”. This approach is in conformity with international law and with the legal opinion of the UN as of 29 January 2002.

Morocco is the administrative authority of Western Sahara and it is the obligation of the Moroccan side to assure the full application of the Fisheries Partnership Agreement in accordance with its obligations under international law. There are no references to the Western Sahara in the agreement and this was already the case in the previous agreement between the EC and Morocco.