State of play, main conclusions, outlook

The current EU Association Agreements between the EU and Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia (thereafter Southern Mediterranean Countries, SMCs), were signed in the late 1990s. They were conceived to help achieve the objectives of the 1995 Barcelona Declaration signed by EU Member States and Southern Mediterranean countries, including the six SMCs.

The Barcelona Declaration aimed to create an area of shared prosperity in the Mediterranean region through sustainable socio-economic development, improved living conditions, increased employment and closer regional cooperation and integration as a means to promoting stability and easing migratory pressures.

A key policy instrument to achieve the Barcelona objectives was an eventual establishment of a free-trade area between the EU and SMCs through bilateral Euro-Med free-trade agreements (Euro-Med FTAs) as part of the Euro-Med AAs and through FTAs to be concluded between the SMCs themselves. The Euro-Med FTAs concerned trade in goods, with a focus on liberalisation of import tariffs on industrial products and to a lesser extent liberalisation with regard to agricultural products. They were signed between 1995 and 2002.

The main objective of the Euro-Med FTAs was to promote trade and expansion of harmonious economic and social relations and the creation of conditions for the gradual liberalization of trade in goods, services, and capital between the EU and partner countries. The Euro-Med FTAs aimed also at encouraging intra-regional integration.

In December 2018, the Commission launched an ex-post evaluation of the six Euro-Med FTAs, in order to assess the effects and impacts of these free trade agreements.

In 2021 the Commission’s published its evaluation assessing the extent to which the objectives of Euro-Mediterranean FTAs were met. The overall findings demonstrated that the Euro-Med FTAs have worked quite well in terms of achieving their specific objectives and overarching goals. The Euro-Med FTAs have played a significant role in fostering Euro-Med trade and they remain relevant for trade in goods between the EU and SMC. They have also been effective in having positive effects on GDP, welfare, consumers and workers in both the EU and the SMCs. However, there are also issues, which have been identified as affecting the performance of these Euro-Med FTAs and where additional efforts are needed to enhance their relevance for current trade challenges faced by the EU and SMC partners (e.g. addressing non-tariff measures, reinforcing Euro-Med FTAs implementation, improving the business environment in SMCs, reviewing the coverage of the FTAs and enhancing sustainable development and regulatory cooperation). These issues continue to be of key importance in order to bring the expected benefits of the Euro-Med FTAs to both sides.

Estimated savings and benefits

The evaluation examined the impact of the Euro-Med FTAs and provided best practice and lessons that can be drawn from the FTAs in order to better inform further implementation of the current FTAs on a bilateral basis as well as to enable cross-fertilization of the lessons learned across the various countries in the region. Key areas of future Euro-Med trade cooperation have been identified: addressing non-tariff measures, improving the business environment, addressing such areas of cooperation as foreign direct investments, services, global value chains as well as the sustainable development objectives, including women’s empowerment. These findings and recommendations are being presented in the various dialogues with the Euromed countries to provide for sound, transparent and evidence-based trade cooperation. The lessons learned may also inform potential future negotiations.