Euro-Mediterranean free trade area
The European Union-Mediterranean Free Trade Area (EU-MED FTA, EMFTA), also called the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area or Euromed FTA, is based on the Barcelona Process and European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The Barcelona Process, developed after the Barcelona Conference in successive annual meetings, is a set of goals designed to lead to a free trade area in the Mediterranean Region and the Middle East by 2010.
It is envisioned that an FTA with Rules of Origin with Pan-Euro-Mediterranean cumulation will be created. It will cover the EU, the EFTA, the EU customs unions with third states (Turkey, Andorra, San Marino), the EU candidate states, the partners of the Barcelona Process and possibly at a later stage all of the European Neighbourhood Policy partners. .
The Agadir Agreement of 2004 (FTA between Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt) is seen as its first building block. Further steps are envisioned into the ENP Action plans negotiated between the European Union and the partner states on the southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
The initial aim is to create a matrix of Free Trade Agreements between each of the partners and the others. Then a single free trade area is to be formed, including the European Union.
Partners
Prospective partners
- Syria
- Libya (member of the Arab Maghreb Union)
- Gulf Cooperation Council
- Iraq
- Mauritania (member of the Arab Maghreb Union)
FTA Progress
| | | | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | | | Morocco | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| EU | FTA 1973 | CU 1996 | AA 2000 | AA 2005 | AA 1998 | AA 2004 | AA 2002 | AA 2006 | AA | AA 2000 | AA 1997 | FTA | ||||
| EFTA | FTA 1973 | FTA 1992 | FTA 1999 | FTA 2005 | FTA 2002 | FTA 2005 | FTA 1993 | FTA 1999 | ||||||||
| Turkey CU | CU 1996 | FTA 1992 | FTA 2004 | FTA 2005 | FTA 2006 | FTA 2009 | FTA 2010 | FTA 2004 | FTA 1997 | FTA 2005 | ||||||
| Morocco | AA 2000 | FTA 1999 | FTA 2004 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | |||
| Algeria | AA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | |||||
| Tunisia | AA 1998 | FTA 2005 | FTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | |||
| Egypt | AA 2004 | FTA 2006 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | ||||
| Jordan | AA 2002 | FTA 2002 | FTA 2009 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | |||
| Lebanon | AA 2006 | FTA 2005 | FTA 2010 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | FTA 2002, GAFTA 2005 | |||
| Syria | AA | FTA 2004 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | ||||
| Israel | AA 2000 | FTA 1993 | FTA 1997 | CU 1994 | ||||||||||||
| PA | AA 1997 | FTA 1999 | FTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | CU 1994 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | ||
| Libya | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | ||||||
| GCC | FTA | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | |||||
| Mauritania | ||||||||||||||||
| Iraq | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | FTA 2002, GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | GAFTA 2005 | ||||||
See also
- African Economic Community
- Economic integration
- EUR.1 movement certificate
- List of free trade agreements
- List of trade blocs
- Middle East economic integration
- Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe
- Union for the Mediterranean
- US-Middle East Free Trade Area (US-MEFTA)
External links
- General overviews
- Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements, Summaries of EU Legislation, EU website, 2007. Consulted 4 September 2010.
- System of Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Cumulation, European Commission Taxation and Customs Union page. Consulted 4 September 2010.
- Euro-Med free trade area: the benefits of cumulation, EFTA Bulletin, Switzerland, July–August 2006. Consulted 4 September 2010.
- More specific studies
- European Union–Developing Country FTAs: Overview and Analysis, by JOSEPH F. FRANCOIS, MATTHEW MCQUEEN and GANESHAN WIGNARAJA, in "World Development" Vol. 33, No. 10, pp. 1545–1565, 2005, Elsesvier Ltd, UK.
- Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area - Is It Time to Be Optimistic about the Future?, by Eylin Ege on the IEMed Observatory website, Barcelona, no date. Consulted 4 September 2010.
- The Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area and its Impact on the Economies Involved, by Nicola Minasi, Rome, no date. Consulted 4 September 2010.
- THE EUROMEDITERRANEAN FREE TRADE AREA: FROM COMPETITION TO INTEGRATION, by Alejandro Lorca and Gonzalo Escribano, Madrid, no date. Consulted 4 September 2010.