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Challenges to the EU’s Normativity in Gaining Access to Foreign Resources

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Fishing Power Europe

Part of the book series: Global Europe: Legal and Policy Issues of the EU’s External Action ((GELPIEEA,volume 3))

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Abstract

This chapter completely shifts the focus to the substantive aspects of the European Union’s (EU) normativity under the legitimacy element and examines the EU’s action in accessing foreign fisheries resources. In that type of action, the EU has asserted itself as the relevant interlocutor under its exclusive Common Fisheries Policy and so it does not face the legal issues of participation limitations or reliance on Member States. This chapter provides a more general discussion of the EU’s compensatory (payment for access) agreements and then focuses on a specific case study (the Western Sahara saga) to analyse in detail the EU’s conduct and the normativity challenges that arise in due to strong emphasis on individual and even common Member State interests at the expense of more global interests, leading to incoherence and inconsistency and possibly illegality in the case of Western Sahara.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, opened for signature 10 December 1982, 1833 UNTS 397, entered into force 16 November 1994 UNCLOS.

  2. 2.

    Van der Burgt 2013, p. 274.

  3. 3.

    For a discussion of the contribution of the UNCLOS negotiations to customary law and the status of the EEZ regime, see Harrison 2011, pp. 53–56.

  4. 4.

    For an overview of the regime, see Beckman and Davenport 2013.

  5. 5.

    https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetailsIII.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXI-6&chapter=21&Temp=mtdsg3&clang=_en#1. Accessed 2 August 2022.

  6. 6.

    Comprehensive evidence of that is available at https://www.unclosdebate.org/argument/855/us-already-abides-unclos-matter-customary-international-law-and-domestic-policy. Accessed 2 August 2022.

  7. 7.

    UNCLOS, above n. 1, Article 56(1)(a).

  8. 8.

    Eckert 1979, p. 116.

  9. 9.

    UNCLOS, above n. 1, Article 56(1)(b)(iii).

  10. 10.

    Ibid., Article 61(2)–(3).

  11. 11.

    Carroz and Savini 1983.

  12. 12.

    This opposition is evident from the reactions of the EU (banning fish imports) and some of its Member States, mainly Germany and the UK, to Iceland’s fishing zone claims, which led to the Cod Wars. See ICJ, Fisheries Jurisdiction Case (United Kingdom v Iceland), Judgment on the merits, 25 July 1974, ICJ Reports 1974, p. 3; ICJ, Fisheries Jurisdiction Case (Federal Republic of Germany v Iceland), Judgment on the merits, 25 July 1974, ICJ Reports 1974, p. 175. Not all EU Member States, however, had an adverse position towards the EEZ concept, see Treves 1976.

  13. 13.

    European Commission 1974.

  14. 14.

    Long and Curran 2000, p. 11; Churchill and Owen 2010, p. 6.

  15. 15.

    Wise 1984, p. 145.

  16. 16.

    Ibid.

  17. 17.

    See generally ICES 1978.

  18. 18.

    European Commission 1974, 1975a, b, 1976.

  19. 19.

    Churchill and Owen 2010, p. 7; Long and Curran 2000, p. 11.

  20. 20.

    European Commission 1976.

  21. 21.

    Ibid.

  22. 22.

    Ibid., p. 13.

  23. 23.

    Churchill and Owen 2010, pp. 7–8.

  24. 24.

    Ibid., 342–350; Van der Burgt 2013, pp. 263–270.

  25. 25.

    Churchill and Owen 2010, p. 343.

  26. 26.

    Ibid., p. 345.

  27. 27.

    Valente M (2000) Stocks Depleted by EU Boats, Lax Controls. http://www.ipsnews.net/2000/03/fisheries-argentina-stocks-depleted-by-eu-boats-lax-controls/. Accessed 2 August 2022. See also Orellana 2007, 4; Haynes 2003, p. 6.

  28. 28.

    Churchill and Owen 2010, pp. 348–349; Van der Burgt 2013, pp. 265–266.

  29. 29.

    Ibid., p. 265.

  30. 30.

    The United Nations Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, opened for signature 4 August 1995, 2167 UNTS 3, entered into force 11 December 2001.

  31. 31.

    FAO 1995.

  32. 32.

    European Commission 1996, p. 11.

  33. 33.

    Council 1997, p. 5.

  34. 34.

    On the development of the CFP reform in that regard, see Van der Burgt 2013, pp. 267–269.

  35. 35.

    Ibid., p. 270.

  36. 36.

    European Commission 2002, p. 3. See also Van der Burgt 2013, pp. 279–281; Churchill and Owen 2010, pp. 346–348.

  37. 37.

    Wakefield 2016, p. 129.

  38. 38.

    European Commission 2011, p. 10.

  39. 39.

    Zimmermann 2016, p. 136.

  40. 40.

    European Commission 2011, p. 10.

  41. 41.

    European Parliament and Council 2013, Article 32(2).

  42. 42.

    See Gegout 2016.

  43. 43.

    Treaty on European Union (Consolidated Version), opened for signature 7 February 1992, entered into force 1 November 1993, TEU 2016 OJ C202/13, Article 3(5).

  44. 44.

    Wakefield 2016, 6.

  45. 45.

    Ibid., pp. 5–6, 8–10, and 134.

  46. 46.

    European Court of Auditors 2015, p. 18, para 31.

  47. 47.

    Okafor-Yarwood and Belhabib 2019.

  48. 48.

    See e.g. Council 2007, Article 8 of the Protocol setting out the fishing opportunities and financial contribution provided for in the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Guinea-Bissau for the period 16 June 2007–15 June 2011.

  49. 49.

    Okafor-Yarwood and Belhabib 2019, p. 7.

  50. 50.

    Ibid.

  51. 51.

    Zimmermann 2016, p. 10.

  52. 52.

    Océanic Développement 2010, p. 96.

  53. 53.

    Zimmermann 2016, p. 11.

  54. 54.

    Ibid., 12.

  55. 55.

    Ibid., 12–13.

  56. 56.

    European Commission 2019, p. 2.

  57. 57.

    See Kaczynski and Fluharty 2002; Mundt 2012; Le Manach et al. 2013.

  58. 58.

    Ibid., p. 262.

  59. 59.

    Okafor-Yarwood and Belhabib 2019, p. 7.

  60. 60.

    Popescu 2015, p. 17.

  61. 61.

    European Parliament 2015, para 23.

  62. 62.

    European Parliament and Council 2013, Article 31(6)(a).

  63. 63.

    Zimmermann 2016, p. 14; SeafoodNews.com (2013) Russia files first ever complaint to WTO. https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2013/04/25/russia-files-first-ever-complaint-to-wto/. Accessed 2 August 2022.

  64. 64.

    Council 2008b, Article 38(8).

  65. 65.

    Ibid., Article 31(6).

  66. 66.

    European Commission 2012, p. 3.

  67. 67.

    Council 2019d, Article 15(1) of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of The Gambia.

  68. 68.

    Zimmermann 2016, p. 12.

  69. 69.

    UNCLOS, above n. 1 preamble.

  70. 70.

    Okafor-Yarwood 2015.

  71. 71.

    GC, Case T-572/93 Odigitria AAE v Council and Commission, Judgment, 6 July 1995, EU:T:1995:131.

  72. 72.

    Ibid., para 44.

  73. 73.

    See Wakefield 2016, pp. 9–10.

  74. 74.

    Popescu 2015, p. 14.

  75. 75.

    ITLOS, Dispute concerning delimitation of the maritime boundary between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire in the Atlantic Ocean (No 23), Judgment, 23 September 2017, ITLOS Reports 2017.

  76. 76.

    Council 2008a, Article 2 of the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire and the European Community.

  77. 77.

    ITLOS, Dispute concerning delimitation of the maritime boundary between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire in the Atlantic Ocean (No 23), Judgment, 23 September 2017, ITLOS Reports 2017, para 194.

  78. 78.

    For a detailed account of the developments relating to Western Sahara, see e.g. Hodges 1983. For more contemporary discussions of legal issues related to the saga, see Milano 2006; Dawidowicz 2013; Kassoti 2017a, b, c, d, 2018, 2019a, b; Prickartz 2019; Smith 2020.

  79. 79.

    See UN Security Council 2002, para 5.

  80. 80.

    See UN General Assembly 1979b, para 7.

  81. 81.

    Ibid.

  82. 82.

    ICJ, Western Sahara, Advisory Opinion, 16 October 1975, ICJ Reports 1975, p. 12, para 162.

  83. 83.

    UN Security Council 2002, para 6.

  84. 84.

    Ibid.

  85. 85.

    Franck 1976, p. 715.

  86. 86.

    UN General Assembly 1979a.

  87. 87.

    UN General Assembly 1979b, para 5. See also UN General Assembly 1990, para 3.

  88. 88.

    UN General Assembly 1976.

  89. 89.

    For an overview, see Dawidowicz 2013, pp. 260–261.

  90. 90.

    UN General Assembly 2017b.

  91. 91.

    See Audiencia Nacional, sala de lo penal, ordinary proceedings No 80/2013, Order, 4 July 2014, No 40/2014, p. 8.

  92. 92.

    For the most recent, see UN Security Council 2017; UN General Assembly 2016.

  93. 93.

    Franck 1976, p. 715.

  94. 94.

    The Government of the Kingdom of Spain and the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco, Agreement on cooperation in sea fisheries, signed 17 February 1977. Evidence of the arrangement is the information Driss Dahak (an advisor to the Moroccan government for law of the sea matters and UNCLOS negotiations as the time) provides in his later book. According to him, the agreement was not ratified by Morocco in response to “Spain declaring after 1976 that it had only ceded administration of the territory, and not its sovereignty.” (Translation by Jeffrey Smith). See Dahak 1986, pp. 409–410.

  95. 95.

    The Government of the Kingdom of Spain and the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco, Protocol on the Transitional Agreement on sea fisheries, signed 29 June 1979, BOE 253 of 22 October 1979, 24551. https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/1979/10/22/pdfs/A24551-24552.pdf. Accessed 2 August 2022.

  96. 96.

    December 1979, April 1981, and December 1982 reported in Smith 2010, p. 51.

  97. 97.

    Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of Morocco, Agreement on cooperation on sea fisheries, signed 1 August 1983, BOE No. 243 of 11 October 1983, 27588. www.boe.es/boe/dias/1983/10/11/pdfs/A27588-27590.pdf. Accessed 2 August 2022. The 1983 agreement distinguished between two fishing zones, one to the north and one to the south of Cape Noun, the latter corresponding to the Western Sahara waters. See ibid., Annex I.

  98. 98.

    Act No. 1-81 of 18 December 1980, Promulgated by Dahir No. 1-81-179 of 8 April 1981, establishing a 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone off the Moroccan coasts. http://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/MAR_1981_Act.pdf. Accessed 2 August 2022. On a previous extension, see Act No. 1.73.211 establishing the Limits of the Territorial Waters and the Exclusive Fishing Zone of Morocco, of 2 March 1973. http://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/MAR_1973_Act.pdf. Accessed 2 August 2022.

  99. 99.

    European Parliament 2013a, paras 9–11.

  100. 100.

    Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Kingdom of Spain and the Portuguese Republic and the adjustments to the Treaties, opened for signatures 12 June 1985, entered into force 1 January 1986, OJ L302/23, Article 167.

  101. 101.

    Ibid.

  102. 102.

    European Parliament 2006, para 41, footnote 19. See also Chapaux 2007, p. 218.

  103. 103.

    European Parliament 2013b; Wakefield 2016, p. 132.

  104. 104.

    Ibid.

  105. 105.

    Council and Commission 2000.

  106. 106.

    Council 2012.

  107. 107.

    GC, Case T-512/12 Front Polisario v Council, Judgment, 10 December 2015, EU:T:2015:953, paras 241 and 247.

  108. 108.

    ECJ, Case C 104/16 P Front Polisario v Council, Judgment, 21 December 2016, EU:C:2016:973.

  109. 109.

    ECJ, Case C-266/16 Western Sahara Campaign UK v Commissioners for HMRC and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Judgment, 27 February 2018, EU:C:2018:118.

  110. 110.

    Ibid., para 32.

  111. 111.

    Council 2018a, 2019a.

  112. 112.

    European Parliament 2019a.

  113. 113.

    Council 2018b, 2019b, 2019c.

  114. 114.

    GC, Joined Cases T‑344/19 and T‑356/19, Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (Front Polisario) v Council of the European Union, Judgment, 29 September 2021, EU:T:2021:640; GC, Case T‑279/19 Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (Front Polisario) v Council of the European Union, Judgment, 29 September 2021, EU:T:2021:639.

  115. 115.

    European Parliament 2013a. See also European Parliament 2009.

  116. 116.

    ECJ, Case C-266/16 Western Sahara Campaign UK v Commissioners for HMRC and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Judgment, 27 February 2018, EU:C:2018:118, paras 67–69.

  117. 117.

    Le Matin (2017) Adoption de deux projets de loi et d’un projet de décret relatifs au domaine maritime du Maroc. https://lematin.ma/journal/2017/adoption-de-deux-projets-de-loi-et-dun-projet-de-decret-relatifs-au-domaine-maritime-du-maroc/274871.html. Accessed 2 August 2022.

  118. 118.

    UN General Assembly 2017a, Annex.

  119. 119.

    Front Polisario (2016) Western Sahara Declares the Outer Limits of its 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). https://wsrw.org/files/dated/2016-03-06/fp_media_release_05.03.2016.pdf. Accessed 2 August 2022.

  120. 120.

    European Parliament 2013a.

  121. 121.

    ECJ, Case C-266/16 Western Sahara Campaign UK v Commissioners for HMRC and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Judgment, 27 February 2018, EU:C:2018:118, paras 71–72.

  122. 122.

    European Parliament and Council 2013, Article 31(5). See also European Parliament and Council 2017, Article 4. This requirement was in place even in the repealed Regulation 1006/2008 in its Article 3.

  123. 123.

    Ibid.

  124. 124.

    On an access to documents request I made for “Commission evaluations or other documents relating to the legal status of the fishing operations (and their authorisations) of EU vessels in waters off the coast of Western Sahara under the 2013 access agreement with Morocco as a result of Case C-266/16 Western Sahara Campaign UK EU:C:2018:118. If existing, documents discussing the question whether such fishing operations can be considered IUU fishing”, the Commission responded that it does not hold such documents, Ref. Ares(2019)1608206.

  125. 125.

    With respect to marine resources, see United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea 1982, Resolution III, para 1(a); UN General Assembly 1992, para 10; UN Security Council 2002, para 11.

  126. 126.

    Kassoti 2017d, p. 4; Corell 2010, pp. 240–241.

  127. 127.

    Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land annexed to Convention (IV) respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, opened for signature 18 October 1907, 205 CTS 277 entered into force 26 January 1910; Nuremberg International Military Tribunal, Judgment, 1 October 1946, American Journal of International Law https://doi.org/10.2307/2193873, pp. 248–249.

  128. 128.

    Kassoti 2017c, p. 50.

  129. 129.

    European Parliament 2011, pp. 11–12. See further the discussion in Kassoti 2017c, pp. 47–49.

  130. 130.

    GC, Case T-512/12 Front Polisario v Council, Judgment, 10 December 2015, EU:T:2015:953, paras 242–245.

  131. 131.

    ICJ, Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 (1970), Advisory Opinion, 21 June 1971, ICJ Reports 1971, p. 16, paras 121–124.

  132. 132.

    ECJ, Case C-266/16 Western Sahara Campaign UK v Commissioners for HMRC and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Judgment, 27 February 2018, EU:C:2018:118, para 71.

  133. 133.

    GC, Case T-512/12 Front Polisario v Council, Judgment, 10 December 2015, EU:T:2015:953, para 241.

  134. 134.

    Ibid., para 247.

  135. 135.

    Council 2018c.

  136. 136.

    European Parliament 2018, para 26.

  137. 137.

    Network of 93 Saharawi civil society actors 2018, p. 2; Kassoti 2019b, p. 315.

  138. 138.

    European Commission 2018, p. 9.

  139. 139.

    Ibid., p. 18; Kassoti 2019b, p. 316.

  140. 140.

    Ibid.

  141. 141.

    European Parliament 2019b.

  142. 142.

    Sidati M (2019) Polisario condemns new EU-Morocco trade deal. https://wsrw.org/a105x4415. Accessed 18 July 2020.

  143. 143.

    Kassoti E (2021) The Long Road Home: The CJEU’s Judgments in Joined Cases T-344/19 and T-356/19 and in Case T-272/19—Front Polisario v Council. https://verfassungsblog.de/the-long-road-home/. Accessed 2 August 2022.

  144. 144.

    https://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste.jsf?lgrec=fr&td=%3BALL&language=en&num=C-798/21%20P&jur=C. Accessed 2 August 2022; https://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste.jsf?lgrec=fr&td=%3BALL&language=en&num=C-799/21%20P&jur=C. Accessed 2 August 2022; https://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste.jsf?lgrec=fr&td=%3BALL&language=en&num=C-778/21%20P&jur=C. Accessed 2 August 2022; https://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste.jsf;jsessionid=8198539B5A6EE39547E11DA355DE7C97?num=C-779/21&language=en. Accessed 2 August 2022.

  145. 145.

    Heller F (2022) Shift in Spain’s policy on Western Sahara triggers government tensions. https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/short_news/shift-in-spains-policy-on-western-sahara-triggers-government-tensions/?utm_source=piano&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=19683&pnespid=quh7VTYbO.sCxePErGXsEZnUuAK_DYN3JOOl2bQ0tB1mOMBzhLH6nnu422GCRW1ibxVoNckM. Accessed 2 August 2022.

  146. 146.

    Sinkevičius 2022.

  147. 147.

    Kassoti 2017c.

  148. 148.

    Ibid., p. 51.

  149. 149.

    Faraj et al. 2015, p. 51.

  150. 150.

    Churchill and Owen 2010, p. 342.

  151. 151.

    Edwards S (2017) Are Morocco and EU heading towards a political impasse? https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/03/morocco-eu-heading-political-impasse-170301102342685.html. Accessed 2 August 2022.

  152. 152.

    Peregil F, Cañas J (2017) Incursions at Spain’s North African exclaves triple after Moroccan threats. https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/02/27/inenglish/1488185422_295555.html. Accessed 2 August 2022.

  153. 153.

    Heller F (2022) Spain resumes world’s largest migration operation with Morocco. https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/short_news/spain-resumes-worlds-largest-migration-operation-with-morocco/?utm_source=piano&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=21932&pnespid=r71mVy1abboT1.nH_iSlGpOP5RGrRcNqKuSsm.dvrk1mSPnMEae5GtCYJusN90eFOS8AYaOP. Accessed 2 August 2022.

  154. 154.

    European Parliament, Council 2017, Article 17.

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    Mihail Vatsov

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Vatsov, M. (2023). Challenges to the EU’s Normativity in Gaining Access to Foreign Resources. In: Fishing Power Europe. Global Europe: Legal and Policy Issues of the EU’s External Action, vol 3. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-583-6_7

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