ABSTRACT
The Court of Justice of the European Union had reached its judgement based on reasoning under international law, in particular the law of treaties and the law of self-determination, and had found that Western Sahara was a separate territory which could be covered only with the consent of its people. After the judgement, the Council instructed the European Commission (COM) to negotiate an amendment which would enable continued trade, and in which ‘the people concerned by the agreement have been adequately involved’. The underlying assumption of COMs argument is clearly that what benefits the economy also benefits the people. The Netherlands said this: Morocco, as the administering power of the Western Sahara, may not disregard the interests and wishes of the people of the Western Sahara, when applying the protocol to such maritime areas.
