Morocco bans entry to European parliamentarians who support secession in Western Sahara

The Moroccan authorities have prevented European parliamentarians who support secession in the territory of Western Sahara from entering the country.

The Moroccan authorities decided to deport four members of the European Parliament and two of their companions after considering that they had tried to enter the city of Laayoune, in Western Sahara, illegally, in a move described as ‘provocative’ by the Moroccan kingdom. They are Anna Katti Lemström and Jussi Saramo, MEPs from the Finnish Left Alliance party, Isabel Serra, MP for the Spanish Podemos party, and Catarina Martins, MP for the Portuguese socialist party Left Bloc, as well as Pablo Quesada Martín, deputy vice-president of the Left Group in the European Parliament, together with another communications officer who was accompanying them on the trip.

Local authorities in Laayoune intervened to prevent the landing of the plane and the subsequent entry of these European politicians, emphasising that ‘respect for national sovereignty remains a red line that cannot be crossed under any justification’, since the Moroccan State considers that this type of demands and attitudes do not respect the legal controls that determine the orderly entry of foreign citizens into national territory.

In Morocco's view, these politicians are trying to exert influence in support of separatist arguments, without any official authorisation from the European Parliament, which is in conflict with the laws governing official visits to the North African country. 

Precisely, from the left-wing postulates at an international level, the holding of an independence referendum for the Saharawi people is being defended, a postulate defended by the Polisario Front and Algeria, great political rivals of Morocco. 

Despite their parliamentary status, the interested parties attempted to access the regions considered to be in the south of Morocco without any official authorisation from the European Parliament, taking advantage of their status as parliamentarians to try to impose a unilateral agenda. It is understood that this step does not reflect the official position of the European legislative institution, which had previously issued directives preventing its members from carrying out visits or missions abroad without prior authorisation or coordination. 

Morocco defends that Western Sahara is part of its southern provinces and proposes an Autonomy Plan for the territory that would leave it under Moroccan sovereignty, granting the Saharawi authorities a large degree of self-government and respecting the resolutions of the United Nations (UN).

This Moroccan proposal has broad international support, including that of important powers such as the United States, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Germany and France, which consider the Moroccan proposal to be the most serious and realistic way to resolve the Saharawi dispute, which has been going on for many years since the end of the colonial period. Meanwhile, the call for an independence referendum among the Sahrawi population has less international support despite the efforts of the Polisario Front and Algeria.

This incident of the refusal of entry comes at a time when Euro-Moroccan relations are experiencing a positive dynamic, especially after the meeting between the president of the Moroccan House of Representatives, Rachid Talbi Alami, and the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Mizzola, last December, during which the importance of dialogue and cooperation between the two institutions was emphasised.

Morocco's decision to deport is related to the defence of its national sovereignty, based on the understanding that Western Sahara is part of its southern provinces, and is limited to the rejection of external interference in the internal affairs of the Moroccan state, especially when it is something that threatens the good relations between the Moroccan kingdom and the European Union.