During the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg, on the eve of the voting session, many MPs called for reasoning and taking the necessary time to get the maximum of information before taking a stand on the violent Laayoune's events, which took place on November 8.

    Reacting to hostile attacks by the Spanish Popular Party towards Morocco, a number of European MPs urged the EP to not react hastily and based on propaganda which is not supported by indisputable evidence.

    French European MP Dominique Baudis, affirmed, on behalf of his colleagues, that "reality is far away from what propaganda sought to make us believe," underlining that the EP "must show wisdom and shrewdness  rather than falsely accuse Moroccan authorities and holding them responsible for this situation."

    In the same vein, Italian European MP and president of the Maghreb delegation at the EP, Pier Antonio Panzeri, said that the parliament "should have taken its time before drafting the resolution, in order to take all useful information into consideration to ensure taking a stronger parliamentary position."

    For her part, Belgian European MP Frédérique Ries, deplored "the lack of balance in this text," stressing that the parliament should have also discussed the "fate of Mustafa Salma, the polisario rebel who was abducted for daring to call for dialogue."

    All parties "share responsibility for finding a just, realistic and sustainable solution, and when I say all parties, I mean the Morocco, the polisario as well as Algeria," which is barely ever mentioned, she regretted.

    Bulgarian European MP Metin Kazak maintained that the resolution was unjust towards Morocco, underscoring that it will "do more harm than good, because it doesn’t take the efforts deployed by Morocco to reach a sustainable solution into consideration."

    On her part, French European MP Dominique Vlasto said that the text was obviously "unbalanced" and that the EP should have waited for the results of investigations to "enable MPs to have a clear idea about the reality of the events."

    Another French European MP, Gilles Pargneaux, called for dialogue with Morocco in the coming weeks, noting that the Sahara dispute is a "diplomatic issue for Morocco's relations with African countries and with the Maghreb countries, notably Algeria."

    "It is also a security issue because of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which is active in the region, as well as a humanitarian issue for the Sahrawi population concerned, notably those who live in the Tindouf camps and who could not leave," he added.

Source: MAP
News and events concerning Western Sahara issue/ Corcas