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GET OUR BANNERThe EuroMed Partnership
In November 1995, following a European Council decision, a Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Foreign Affairs Ministers was held in the Spanish city of Barcelona. It marked the launch of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, also known as the Barcelona Process for short, after the name of the city in which the decision was taken. It was the EU's first comprehensive policy for the region.
The Barcelona Declaration agreed at this meeting laid down the foundations of a new regional relationship, aiming at achieving peace, stability and growth in the Mediterranean Partner Countries. It covers political, economic and social cooperation and represents a turning point in Euro-Mediterranean collaboration. Another key aspect of the process is to achieve a Free Trade Area by 2010.
The Partner Countries participating in the Barcelona Process are now part of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) developed in 2004, following the enlargement of the EU, in order to avoid the emergence of new dividing lines in Europe. The ENP complements and reinforces the Barcelona Process on a bilateral basis, through Action Plans agreed with the Partner Countries that take into account their specific needs and characteristics.
The policy is financed through the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI), managed by EuropeAid that is charged with turning policies taken on a political level into actions on the ground.
A new impetus was given to the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership in 2008 through the Union for the Mediterranean launched in Paris on July 13th.
The 27 EU Member States and 9 Mediterranean Partners (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria and Tunisia) participate in the EuroMed process.
Libya maintains an observer status since 1999, while at a meeting in Lisbon in November 2007 the Euro-Med Foreign Affairs Ministers welcomed Albania and Mauritania to the Partnership. The European Council held in December of the same year also welcomed these two countries, in its Conclusions.
Cyprus, Malta and Turkey are three countries that were part of the Barcelona Process at its launch. However, Cyprus and Malta joined the EU in 2004, while in December 1999 at the Helsinki European Council, Turkey became a candidate country for EU accession and is now in accession talks.
The Foreign Affairs Ministers oversee the development of the Partnership. They meet periodically to monitor the application of the Barcelona Declaration and define actions. More lately, and particularly in 2007 and 2008, there has been an increase in the number of meetings of ministers in other priority fields, including Employment and Labour, Trade, Culture, Information Society, Economy and Finance and Education.
Background Info
Euromed Partnership - Key Documents
Ministerial Meetings and Conferences – Conclusions
* A political and security dialogue to achieve a common area of peace and stability based on respect for human rights and democracy
* An economic and financial partnership and the gradual establishment of a Free Trade Area to create a zone of shared prosperity and to support economic transition in the partner states
* A social, cultural and human partnership to encourage understanding between peoples and cultures and exchanges between civil societies.
In November 2005, the Euro-Med partners celebrated a decade of cooperation at a summit symbolically held in Barcelona. There they supported a new five-year work programme that focused on four critical priorities:
*To advance democracy and human rights in the region through stronger political dialogue and cooperation, including the setting up of a "governance facility".
*To open and expand economic opportunities and assist in the creation of jobs, particularly through the completion of the Free Trade Area by 2010, and to extend free trade to include agriculture and services.
*To tackle immigration through a more strategic approach that recognises the benefits of migration for all partners, and prevents human tragedies emanating from attempts to enter the EU illegally.
*To facilitate access to basic education for all, and cooperate with partner countries to enhance the quality of education. Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner said she would like to set a goal to eradicate illiteracy and ensure all boys and girls can attend primary school by 2015.
Most of the technical and financial assistance for this five-year programme will come from the ENPI, European Investment Bank loans as part of the Euro-Mediterranean Investment and partnership (FEMIP) and bilateral contributions from Member States.
Background info
Grants and loans
In January 2007, the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) replaced MEDA, the financial instrument supporting the EU’s Partnership with the Mediterranean Partner Countries. The ENPI is a much more flexible, policy-driven instrument. Funds allocated to individual country programmes depend on their needs and absorption capacity, as well as their implementation of agreed reforms. For the budgetary period 2007-2013 approximately €12 billion in funding are available to support these partners' reforms.
Through MEDA I (1995-1999) and MEDA II (2000 – 2006) the EU supported the Barcelona Process with €16 billion from the Community budget. Loans from the European Investment Bank amount to approximately €2 billion per year.
A number of other European Commission thematic budgets also cover the Mediterranean such as the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), the education programmes TEMPUS and Erasmus, Life-Third countries for the environment and the EU’s research programme FP7.
Background Info
ENP website – Reference documents
Increased trade is another key resource. The EU is the main trading partner of the Mediterranean countries in both goods and in services. More than 50% of trade in the region is with the EU and for some countries the EU is the destination for 70% of exports. The EU is the largest direct foreign investor, the first source of tourists, and the biggest aid donor.
The EU gives duty free access to all industrial goods originating in the Mediterranean countries while these countries are progressively dismantling their tariffs on imports of EU industrial goods.
Euro-Mediterranean trade relations are healthy and growing, according to DG Trade figures. Total exports to the EU have grown by an average 10% a year since 2000, imports from the EU have increased by 4% since 2000 and total trade with the EU was €127bn in 2007 – some 5% of total EU external trade.
One important objective of the Partnership is the creation of a Mediterranean Free Trade Area by 2010, with substantially liberalised trade both between the EU and the Mediterranean region, and between the Southern Mediterranean countries themselves.
Background Info
EU trade – Country statistics
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