The EU’s reluctant engagement with the Western Sahara conflict: Between humanitarian aid and parliamentary involvement

Abstract

The European Union (EU) has maintained an ambivalent discourse and practice in its position regarding the Sahara conflict. While institutions such as the Commission and the Council have remained in the background, adopting decisions and commercial agreements with Morocco and ignoring the conflict over the Western Sahara territory, the European Parliament has been much more likely to discuss it. The Parliament and the EU Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) through its development cooperation policy have been the two institutions that have sustained a more long-lasting and demanding interest in the Sahrawi question. The position of the European Parliament on the Sahrawi conflict has changed over time, determined by the composition of the Parliament and its varying conservative or socialist majorities. The nationality of parliamentary members has also had an influence and this has meant that parliamentary groups have not always been internally unanimous. Pressure from Morocco has been taken into account in a number of resolutions and has been significant at particular points in time.