Swedish government minister Isabella Lovin Photo: AFP
Divisions in the Cook Islands over a controversial fishing deal have reached a new peak with opposition MPs asking a Swedish politician to talk to the European Union on their behalf.
The government is set to sign a deal with the EU that would allow Spanish vessels to fish in its exclusive economic zone for at least eight years.
About 4,000 people have signed a petition against the move.
The opposition's finance and economy spokesman, James Beer, has written to Sweden's minister for International Development Cooperation, Isabella Lovin, to lobby the EU.
Ms Lovin is a former member of the EU parliament and experienced in fisheries.
In 2013, she wrote to the Kiribati government expressing her concerns over a similar agreement it had initialled.
Mr Beer says the government has been continually warned that it's a bad agreement for the Cook Islands.
Cook Islanders march to decry the Prime Minister Henry Puna and his government's deal with the European Union on purse seine fishing. Photo: Flo Syme Buchanan