MEPs forcefully expelled from Western Sahara, call on the office of the President European Parliament to intervene in order to protect MEPs in the course of their work. 

A delegation of Members of the European Parliament, consisting of Jussi Saramo (Vasemmistoliitto, Finland), Catarina Martins (Bloco de Esquerda, Portugal), and Isabel Serra (Podemos, Spain) travelled yesterday to Laayoune, the capital of Western Sahara, but were blocked from carrying out their duty by unidentified persons, presumed to be Moroccan security forces. Upon their arrival from Gran Canaria, the MEPs were forced back onto their plane and refused entry by authorities who refused to identify themselves or provide a justification as to why the MEPs were not allowed to disembark. 

The actions of Moroccan authorities represent a serious breach of international diplomatic and political protocol. Elected Members of the European Parliament must be allowed to carry out their work unhindered. The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, the EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas and European Council President Antonio Costa must intervene in order to defend the integrity of the European institutions in response to the unlawful detention and expulsion of parliamentarians from Western Sahara. 

The MEPs had organised the mission to Western Sahara in order to monitor compliance with the recent ruling by the CJEU (Court of Justice of the European Union) which annulled the agriculture and fishing agreements between the EU and Morocco. The Mission also sought to gather information about potential human rights violations and resource extraction by EU companies. The mission has been coordinated with the Polisario Front, the political representative of the Sahrawi people as established by United Nations resolutions and the CJEU ruling itself.