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Euro Mediterranean Partnership

Page history last edited by Jasmine Ganeshalingam 13 years, 4 months ago

Founding
Partner Countries
How it works
Current Situation
Links
References

Founding

The original 15 Member States agreed to the terms of the Barcelona Declaration of which the three main objectives were to create peace and stability, an area of of shared success and improve understandings between different cultures and civil societies (euromedinfo.eu). The colonial past which surrounds the some EU Member States and the African continent has marked any inter-regional cooperation which may occur between the European Union and Africa (Hill & Smith, 2005:324) . Because areas of Africa have suceeded in building themselves up and co-operating with the EU, Northern states such as Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco have been accepted as members of Euro-med.

Partner Countries

(Source: euromedinfo.eu)

How it works

The individual Mediterranean partners work closely with the EU on a 'personal level' to ensure the necessary support programmes for economic transition and reform are available. These programmes acknowledge each individual country’s specific needs and characteristics. The European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) provides funding to ensure this is possible. Two forms of cooperation are also needed to keep the EMP working smoothly, they are:

Bilateral cooperation involves numerous activities are conducted with each country by the EU. The Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements are the most important of these activities as it enables the EU negotiates with the individual members, they are also meant to replace the original 1970's cooperation agreements. Specific core concerns are shared by the various members, for example political dialogue, respect for human rights and democracy, establishing a free trade zone, provisions relating to intellectual property, services, public procurement, competition rules, state aids and monopolies, and economic, social and cultural cooperation including migration, however the rest of the agreements vary depending on the individual member. Once they have been signed, the agreements must be ratified by EU Member State national parliaments (euromedinfo.eu).
Regional cooperation works with bilateral cooperation as it supports and complements the actions initiated by the Association Agreements. The main focal points are political, economic and cultural issues such as industry, energy, the environment, finance and agriculture important to many of the Mediterranean Partners (euromedinfo.eu).

The EMP was funded through grants which are provided by the MEDA Programme and between 1995 and 2005, they have invested approximately 9 billion euros in order to make modernisation and reform possible. In 2007, it was replaced by the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has also provided funding for the Euro-Med Partnership, with an approximate 14 billion euros being provided since 1974 for activities within the individual countries.

Current Situation

In 2007, it was suggested that if the Euro Mediterranean Partnership was to be a complete success a stronger social dimension was required. A conference focusing on 'Employment and Social Dialogue’ with the EMP, which was suggested by the German EU President and supported by The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the Euromed Trade Union Forum which bring the ETUC and trade unions from the Euro-Med members closer together, indicated that there needed to be a much greater focus on the social aspects. It was also suggested that the Partnership stood a greater chance of reaching a broader audience if they were to include employers and workers organisations (etuc.org).

The Euro-Meds Middle East Peace Programme, which focuses on cooperation between Israeli's and Arabs received another 10 million euros for work which is to be done between 2007 and 2010. The programme aims to improve communications and understanding among people and introduce activities which will affect other areas of people's everyday lives. However, it was suggested that at the end of 2008, calls for new proposals would be made (euromedinfo.eu).

Other programmes such as the Euro-Med Youth Programme are due to be relaunched in 2009. For further information on the other Programmes run by the EMP go to:

http://www.euromedinfo.eu/site.179.content.en.html

References

http://www.etuc.org/a/3508
europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/r15001.htm
http://www.euromedinfo.eu/site.300.content.en.html
http://www.euromedinfo.eu/site.151.content.en.html
Dinan, D Ever Closer Union: An Introduction to European Integration Palgrave Macmillan 2005
Hill & Smith International Realtions & the European Union Oxford 2005