Florian ERMACORA

Policy topics Florian ERMACORA is active on

What Florian ERMACORA has said (3)

• “And there, um, we would launch um programs which, um, protect and and sustain um, those, those minorities. Creative Europe could be one of the of the programs there. Now, an important point is, of course, for the legal certainty that we are able to prove that those benefits arrived. Obviously, we cannot prove this yet because the benefits we are talking about will arise in future. This will be the benefits from the new trade agreement. But we have a very clear concept on how we will monitor and show that those benefits arrive with the with the saharawis. This will be through a regular control mechanism, which will quantify the natural resources and equivalent benefits for the Saharawis, which will name the sources of funding and action which will. Thirdly, um, describe the distribution and assess the distribution of these benefits. Um, so like like this, we will be able to show, um, What we are doing to share those benefits and like this, have the implicit consent of this House. In line with the court ruling, there was no there is no and was no legal vacuum here because this new agreement enters into force at the at the time where the other agreement. Um, and um, so from that point of view, there is a very clear mechanism in line with the case law issued one year ago. Thanks.”
  Due diligence in supply chains (environmental and human rights) · EU policy on Western Sahara
• “Thank you. So, so indeed, any new trade agreement with Morocco covering the territory of of Western Sahara, um, needs to have the consent of the people of Western Sahara. The consent which, according to the court, could be an explicit consent or an implicit consent. And the court is very precise in its ruling as regards the conditions under which an implicit consent, a consent could be presumed of the people of Western Sahara, which basically says that any such new agreement does not impose obligations for those people. Secondly, that such agreement provides the Saharawis with a and I quote specific, tangible, substantial, proportional and verifiable advantage from the exploitation of the territory's natural resources proportionally to the degree of exploitation which must be carried out consistently with sustainable development principles. And the court also says that this needs to be verified. Those conditions that they are met through regular control mechanisms. Now, with the new agreement, with the new agreement, those conditions of the court are met through a through a declaration or we refer to to those conditions through a declaration to address, um, those, uh, those advantages. And in this declaration, the European Union is committing to support, um, the region meant the Western Sahara region through the financing of projects in key sectors such as water, energy and and others. This should give the benefit than in proportion to the Sahara still living in Western Sahara. Um. The declaration, secondly, refers to the intention of the European Union to continue the humanitarian support to those who are still at the Tindouf camps in, in Algeria. And thirdly, the declaration commits the EU to support adequate programmes in sectors such as education, skills and culture aimed at the people of Western Sahara, who are neither in Western Sahara nor in in Tindouf, and as requested by the court, the Commission will put in action a control mechanism which will regularly monitor that those benefits have arrived and are arriving at the Sahara to presume consent. Giving back the floor. I think, or we leave it to this. Okay, that's our presentation. Thanks.”
  Trade relations with Morocco · EU policy on Western Sahara
• “Um, basically, this is about the point of legal certainty of the new new agreement. Um, as I mentioned, the court is um, is clear on, on this. There's no explicit consent needed. So from that point of view, in legal terms, there is no need to show you now a paper declaring the explicit consent of all the, um, which are there. But, um, the court provides the avenue to this, um, Implicit consent, which provides legal legal certainty, and the implicit consent could be assumed if the benefits deriving from that legal agreement um, arrive at the place of with the with the saharawis. Now, um, uh, basically you have, um, a high number of, of saharawis in Western Sahara itself to share with them benefits. We need to take action in Western Sahara so that the saharawis there can benefit from from these agreements. And this is planned to be through the triggering of investments in infrastructure, in water, uh, in energy, all the things which are then to the benefit of the, of the Sahara. Um, the other, um, part concerns, Tindouf and Sahrawis who are living there. We have, since the 90s, um, programs of humanitarian aid. We are, as European Union, the, um, the ones who give most aid to these, um, people. And we continue to, to do this. This was on average around 9 million per, per year. And of of course, we have to see then with um, with um, as regards the concrete needs in the, in the Tindouf camps, as, and as I mentioned, then there is the diaspora on which we could have a grip outside of Algeria and outside of of Morocco, meaning the diaspora of Saharawis in, in Europe.”
  Trade relations with Morocco · EU Development & Humanitarian Aid · EU policy on Western Sahara