Sahara issue settlement, a priority to stability in the region European socialist MPs
Morocco, Politics, 1/27/2001

The settlement of the Sahara issue is a priority for the stability of the region and for the promotion of Euro-Mediterranean partnership.

The statement was made by members of a delegation from the socialist group at the European parliament at a news conference here Friday while they were winding up a three-day visit to Morocco.

The delegation members, led by the socialist group chairman, Baron Crespo, expressed backing to the latest proposal meant to settle the Sahara issue and said they would spare no effort to maintain open all dialogue possibilities and to help implement the UN settlement plan on the Sahara.

The UN settlement plan provides for the holding of a referendum in the Sahara --a Moroccan southern territory that was formerly under Spanish rule and that was retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accords.

The vote, which will give the people of the Sahara a choice between independence or integration with Morocco, has been repeatedly delayed because of the maneuvers of the separatist polisario which seeks to shrink the voters list.

The settlement of this issue, the European socialist parliamentarians said, is a priority for the stability of the region and for the reactivation of Euro-Mediterranean partnership.

The latest developments of the Sahara issue were expounded to the European Mps at the various talks they held either with cabinet members, parliamentary groups or speakers at the two chambers of the Moroccan parliament.

The European socialist parliamentarians also hailed the political and economic reforms initiated by Morocco and expressed backing to these reforms that are meant, they said, to promote democratic institutions, the rule of the law and human rights.

They ranged over a set of other issues related to Moroccan-European relations, laying a special emphasis on the Morocco-EU fishery negotiations and voicing backing to Morocco's right to exploit its own resources and to preserve its sea stocks.

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