The European Parliament and the Western Sahara conflict (1956-2018)

Abstract

Our main objective is to make an analysis of the attitude of the European Parliament about the Western Sahara conflict, from the origin of the conflict until 2018. In the early 80’s, the Parliament supported the Moroccan thesis. But throughout the decade, this position changed towards a support of the self-determination of the Western Sahara people. In the 90’s, after a crisis between Morocco and the EU, the European Parliament adopted a more moderate posture about the issue. In the 00’s, the Parliament drew attention to human rights and exploitation of natural resources issues, supported the Baker Plan, the Corell Opinion about the exploitation of natural resources in Western Sahara, and requested for the inclusion of the human rights monitoring in MINURSO. In the 10’s the European Chamber pays less attention to the Western Sahara conflict.