Spanish Parliament Blocks Transfer of Western Sahara Airspace Control to Morocco
The Foreign Affairs Committee of the Congress of Deputies (the Spanish Parliament) approved a proposal on Tuesday aimed at preventing the Spanish government from transferring control of Western Sahara’s airspace to Morocco, according to reports from the Spanish news agency EFE.
The proposal was passed with 20 votes in favor, 12 against, and 5 abstentions, effectively undermining Morocco’s ambitions to gain authority over the airspace of Western Sahara.
Introduced by the People’s Party (PP), which opposes any relinquishment of the airspace, the proposal urges the Spanish government to maintain control of Western Sahara’s airspace, currently managed by the public body ENAIRE since 1976 under the mandate of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
In its proposal, the PP stated that “this control has ensured safety, stability, and efficiency of air traffic in the region, in accordance with international standards,” while criticizing the “lack of transparency and absence of clarifications” regarding ongoing negotiations with Morocco.
The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs had acknowledged the existence of discussions with Rabat about the potential transfer of management for Western Sahara’s airspace but provided no further details on the matter.
In this context, the People’s Party insisted that any negotiations with Morocco on this issue should be communicated to Congress and subjected to parliamentary debate.
The party expressed concerns regarding the possible concession of this strategic area, warning of the implications such a decision could entail.
“Any concession of airspace management without ICAO approval would represent a flagrant violation of international law and an implicit acknowledgment of Morocco’s alleged sovereignty over Western Sahara,” it cautioned, highlighting the serious diplomatic and legal repercussions for Spain and the European Union that could result from a potential transfer of authority.
The party also reminded that the European Commission had confirmed that aviation agreements between the EU and Morocco do not encompass Western Sahara, indicating that “any transfer of airspace management without a clear legal framework could lead to disputes with Brussels and international civil aviation organizations.”
On December 3, 2024, during a meeting of the EU External Aviation Policy Advisory Forum, the Commission informed EU carriers that, based on jurisprudence from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the Euro-Mediterranean aviation agreement between the EU and Morocco does not apply to air links originating from an EU member state’s territory to Western Sahara.
The CJEU had annulled the application of the EU-Morocco aviation agreement to Western Sahara.
In a 2018 ruling, the European court clarified that Moroccan territory must refer only to areas where the Kingdom of Morocco exercises the full range of powers recognized to sovereign entities under international law, explicitly excluding territories like Western Sahara.
Furthermore, the court emphasized that including Western Sahara would violate principles of international law, “notably the principle of self-determination as reiterated in Article 1 of the United Nations Charter, and the principle of the relative effect of treaties,” stressing that “the Union cannot validly endorse the Kingdom of Morocco’s intention to include the territory in question within the scope of said agreement.”
In other words, Western Sahara is not included in any air agreements with the EU. There is currently no legal framework to govern commercial airport services between the EU and Africa’s last colony.
