Saramo, Spain’s Isabel Serra and Portugal’s Catarina Martins argued they had been on an “observation mission” to monitor compliance with a recent EU court ruling annulling the agriculture and fishing arrangements between the EU and Morocco.
The MEPs were traveling in a personal capacity as their visit was not an official mission organized by The Left group or by the Parliament, two officials told POLITICO.
In an October 2024 ruling, the EU’s Court of Justice sided with the Polisario Front of Western Sahara, which had appealed to have trade deals annulled that allowed Morocco to export fish and farm products from the annexed territory to the EU.
Morocco has long claimed sovereignty over Western Sahara, a coastal territory in North Africa formerly controlled by Spain. But neighboring Algeria backs the Polisario Front instead, a group that for decades has fought for self-determination for the region.
“We have good connection to the Polisario but also other NGOs that we were actually trying to meet,” Saramo said.
“Morocco does not want us to see the human rights abuses they are committing in the Western Sahara, which they illegally occupy,” he added in a post on Instagram.
