Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government consulted (a) the Saharawi people and (b) the local population in drawing up its amendment to the EU-Morocco Trade Agreement.

​The EU-Morocco Association Agreement comes under EU competence. The EU has sought to ensure that the amendment is fully consistent with the requirements of the European Court of Justice ruling of December 2016 on the applicability of the EU/Morocco Association Agreement to Western Sahara. The EU consulted a wide spectrum of Western Saharan representatives, stake-holders, civil society, and other organisations. The EU Commission's report of its consultations is available online: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=SWD:2018:346:FIN&from=FR.