

EU-Mediterranean
The Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area (EMFTA) is a free trade zone under construction since the Barcelona Declaration, a framework plan, was adopted in 1995. It is being built through a series of bilateral FTAs (called Association Agreements) between Brussels and each state bordering the Mediterranean, as well as so-called horizontal FTAs between the non-EU Mediterranean countries themselves, such as the Agadir Agreement.
The countries in question are Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Territories, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey. (Libya is left out of the EMFTA plan as such, but will be served a separate bilateral trade and investment deal from the EU.)
Many people view the EU’s ambitions to build this special "partnership" with North African and Middle Eastern states — which involves not only trade and investment liberalisation but deep political reform, what Brussels calls "approximation" of other countries’ legal and political institutions with its own — as both imperialist and neocolonial. This is all the more significant taking into account the United States’ plans to weave together a US-Middle East Free Trade Agreement (MEFTA). For the two are in direct competition.
EMFTA was supposed to be completed by 2010. However, a sustainability impact assessment of EMFTA commissioned by the EU already foresees important negative social and environmental consequences. Complicating things further, French President Sarkozy took the initiative to set up a Union for the Mediterranean, involving only the countries that border the sea, which was launched in July 2008. Further still, questions have been arising as to why the EU does not merge its Mediterranean FTA initiative with its GCC FTA initiative.
In September 2011, the EU announced the opening of "deep and comprehensive" trade negotiations with Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. In February 2012, the EU and Morocco signed an agricultural trade deal (which also covers fisheries). Critics have noted that the agreement will promote the exploitation of the disputed territory of Western Sahara, that the main benefactors will be transnational companies and the King of Morocco, and that small farmers will suffer under the deal.
last update: May 2012
Articles
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24-Aug-2012 Algérie-Focus L’Algérie et l’UE repoussent la zone de libre-échange à 2020
Dans le cadre d’un accord signé en 2002, l’UE et l’Algérie devaient mettre en place une zone de libre-échange d’ici 2017. L’échéance a été repoussée de 3 ans. -
16-Aug-2012 Le Figaro Israël va protester contre l’UE
Israël va protester auprès de l’Union européenne contre sa décision d’inclure la ville de Modi’in-Maccabim-Reut sur la liste des colonies juives en Cisjordanie, estimant qu’elle fait partie de son territoire souverain, a déclaré le ministre de l’Information. -
15-Aug-2012 EU Observer Israel unhappy after EU blacklists 1980s town
The European Commission on 3 August added three postal codes to a register of over 500 codes relating to "Israeli settlements located within the territories brought under Israeli administration since June 1967" -
8-Aug-2012 Al Jazeera EU-Israel: One hand whitewashes the other
The European Union is being duplicitous by condemning Israel’s human rights abuses while increasing trade links. -
31-Jul-2012 AIC Palestinian youth reject EU hypocrisy in upgrading relations with Israel
The Palestinian youth are tired of the EU’s hypocrisy and contemptuous policies that use aid and development programs to mask political cowardice and complicity in Israel’s crimes -
30-Jul-2012 PCHRO EU fails to uphold international law with Israel
As organizations dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), we are strongly concerned about the EU’s lack of commitment to human rights in light of what is essentially an intensification of bilateral relations with Israel. -
29-Jul-2012 AIC EU to intensify cooperation with Israel: double standards in practice
Barely two months after the EU Council Conclusions, stating that Israeli activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory were undermining the two-state solution, the EU has just offered Israel 60 new activities of cooperation during the Association Council meeting it held with Israel in Brussels on July 24th . -
29-Jul-2012 Middle East Monitor EU-Israel Association Agreement upgraded
Following a meeting of the Association Council on 24th July, the EU confirmed that it has moved to upgrade relations with the State of Israel. -
11-Jul-2012 Middle East Monitor Ban on settlement goods wouldn’t break EU laws
A new report by Cambridge law professor James Crawford says that "there do not appear to be any EC laws which could be breached by a member state taking the decision to ban the import of settlement produce on public policy grounds." -
26-Jun-2012 WSRW Qui profite de l’agro-industrie en plein essor dans les territoires occupés du Sahara Occidental ? Sûrement pas les Sahraouis.
Le 22 septembre 2011, John Clarke, de la Commission européenne département de l’Agriculture, a déclaré lors d’une audience du Parlement Européen que, selon les autorités marocaines l’accord commercial à venir entre le Maroc et l’UE serait à l’avantage des petits exploitants agricoles marocains. -
22-Jun-2012 AFP EU bans Israeli settler products
The global campaign to boycott companies involved in Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories is spreading, according to advocates of this form of "non-violent resistance." -
18-Jun-2012 WSRW Les consommateurs de l’UE complices de l’occupation sans le savoir
Un nouveau rapport de Western Sahara Resource Watch renseigne sur la façon dont des produits de l’agro-industrie controversée dans le territoire occupé, se retrouvent dans les paniers de clients européens non avertis. -
18-May-2012 Yabiladi L’UE souhaite un accord de libre-échange global avec le Maroc incluant des facilités de visas
La Commission européenne souhaite initier des négociations, avant la fin de cette année, avec le Maroc en vue de la conclusion d’un accord de libre-échange « approfondi et global ». -
20-Feb-2012 DTA Sahara occidental : La spoliation des terres prend de l’ampleur
L’organisation internationale Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) avec le soutien des Emmaüs de Stockholm, une ONG suédoise, a révélé dans un rapport intitulé «Les tomates du conflit», publié récemment, une augmentation «massive» de l’industrie agricole marocaine au Sahara occidental occupé et son exportation vers le marché de l’Union européenne. -
17-Feb-2012 DTA Sahara Occidental : Le Polisario dénonce l’accord de libre-échange entre la Maroc et l’UE
L’accord de libre-échange portant sur les produits agricoles et de pêche entre l’Union européenne et le Maroc n’est valable du point de vue du droit international que s’il spécifie l’exclusion du territoire du Sahara Occidental, a indiqué jeudi, le ministre sahraoui délégué pour l’Europe, Mohamed Sidati, rapporte l’agence de presse sahraouie (SPS). -
17-Feb-2012 Reuters EU parliament approves Morocco agriculture trade deal
European Union lawmakers approved a new trade deal with Morocco on Thursday that will significantly extend duty-free sales of agricultural, food and fisheries products between the North African kingdom and the 27-nation bloc. -
15-Feb-2012 Panoramaroc L’autre face de l’accord agricole UE-Maroc
Les Domaines agricoles relevant de la branche agroalimentaire du holding Siger, détenue par le monarque marocain, se positionne comme étant l’élément dominant de l’agriculture du pays. Il sera, et de loin, le principal bénéficiaire de la probable ratification de la part du Parlement européen de la nouvelle entente commerciale. -
10-Feb-2012 L’Économiste Maroc-UE : Un soutien inattendu à l’accord agricole
L’industrie agroalimentaire européenne lance un appel pour appuyer l’accord de libéralisation -
10-Feb-2012 SPS Un euro parlementaire français menace de saisir la Cour européenne de l’illégalité de l’accord de libre échange entre l’UE et le Maroc
L’euro parlementaire français, José Bové a exprimé encore une fois, mercredi, sa ferme opposition à la rénovation de l´accord de libre-échange entre l´Union européenne et le Maroc, estimant que cet accord viole le droit international du fait qu’il inclut le Sahara occidental. -
1-Feb-2012 The Telegraph King of Morocco to be biggest benefactor of EU trade agreement
A new EU trade agreement that is set to boost the personal fortune of King Mohamed VI of Morocco is facing opposition because it promotes the exploitation of disputed territory of the Western Sahara.
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EU-Mediterranean trade relations
EU overview of EMFTA process and goals -
FoE Med - Mediterranean Free Trade Zone
Friends of the Earth Middle East’s work on EMFTA -
SIA study of EMFTA
Sustainability impact assessment of EMFTA. Also in Arabic and French.