The gap between legal clarity and operational reality remains stark. While the revised aviation accord explicitly excludes Western Sahara, European Commission officials have yet to enforce this exclusion against EU airlines maintaining routes to the contested territory.
On July 8, 2026, the European Parliament formally endorsed the updated Euro-Mediterranean aviation agreement between the EU and Morocco following Croatia’s accession to the Union. The procedural vote passed overwhelmingly with 625 in favor, 16 against, and 20 abstentions.
The technical protocol serves solely to align the existing accord with Croatia’s EU membership and introduces no territorial modifications. Its scope remains limited to the aviation framework between Morocco and the European Union as a whole.
Lawmakers were divided on whether the EU should address the practical inconsistencies arising from this arrangement. Many supported the protocol precisely because it preserves the original agreement’s limitations regarding Western Sahara, in line with both EU jurisprudence and repeated Commission statements.
A vocal minority of MEPs opposed the measure, arguing that despite the agreement’s exclusion of Western Sahara, the Commission has failed to prevent EU carriers from operating flights to the occupied territory outside the accord’s legal framework. This discrepancy, they contend, violates both international law and EU regulations.
The Court of Justice of the European Union has consistently ruled that EU-Morocco agreements apply only within Morocco’s internationally recognized borders unless consent is granted by the people of Western Sahara. In 2018, the Court determined that the aviation accord could not be interpreted to include Western Sahara, a position the Commission has since reaffirmed in written guidance to EU airlines.
Despite this unambiguous legal stance, several European carriers continue operating flights to airports in Western Sahara. Ryanair, for instance, has initiated direct services from EU hubs to Dakhla, while Transavia (a KLM-Air France subsidiary), Air Arabia, and Binter Airlines have also maintained routes to the territory in recent years. The Commission’s guidance explicitly states that the EU-Morocco aviation framework “does not apply to routes connecting EU member states to Western Sahara.”
Efforts to seek clarification from KLM-Air France and Air Arabia regarding their operations have yielded no public response.
