Free-trade agreements with four southern Mediterranean countries will be proposed by the EU this month in light of the latest political developments in the region.
The decision to offer the agreements to Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Tunisia was taken by EU trade ministers this week at a meeting in Brussels.
Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht said the recent uprisings in North Africa opened a new scenario in the relations between the EU and its southern neighbours.
According to Mr de Gaucht, the EU Council will soon be adopting an “overall platform” for the four countries but negotiations with each will be conducted separately and outcomes will not necessarily be identical.
“It will all depend on the progress each country makes individually. However, there will be a common objective, to integrate the markets of these countries with those of the EU, particularly for agriculture and services,” he said.
This latest development marks a shift in the EU’s trade policy with its Mediterranean partners, as until now the EU had the aim of constructing a general free trade area with all the member states of the Euro-Med partnership.
Although discussions on this idea have been going on for years, no real progress materialised.
Asked whether the same type of agreement would be offered to Libya, an EU official told The Times this country would also have the possibility of forming close relations with the EU but would have to wait longer.
“For now we are ready to start negotiations with Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. However, Libya will also eventually follow, particularly when the country’s new political reality settles further,” he said.
The EU was in talks with Libya on the possibility of concluding an association agreement including a deal on cooperation in migration. However, these two items had been on the back burner for years as under Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, Libya never committed itself to anything.
According to the EU official, following the Libyan revolution, the EU will start looking at Tripoli from a different perspective.
“We hope it will be easier to collaborate with Libya in the future. The Commission services are already working on various cooperation proposals to be offered to Libya in the future,” he said.
Despite various calls by the EU in the past, Libya always refused to form part of the Union for the Mediterranean; the EU’s cooperation platform with Mediterranean partners.
On the same issue, the Commission this week also app-roved the launch of the Spring programme – Support for Partnership, Reform and Inclusive Growth – aimed at providing support for southern neighbourhood countries for democratic transformation, institution building and economic growth in the wake of the Arab Spring.
The Commission said support provided through this programme will be tailored to each country’s needs.
The total value of this initiative is €350 million covering this year and the next.