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The Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area (EMFTA) is a free trade zone under construction since the Barcelona Declaration, a framework plan, was adopted in 1995. It is being built through a series of bilateral FTAs (called Association Agreements) between Brussels and each state bordering the Mediterranean, as well as so-called horizontal FTAs between the non-EU Mediterranean countries themselves, such as the Agadir Agreement.
The countries in question are Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Territories, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey. (Libya is left out of the EMFTA plan as such, but will be served a separate bilateral trade and investment deal from the EU.) Many people view the EU’s ambitions to build this special "partnership" with North African and Middle Eastern states — which involves not only trade and investment liberalisation but deep political reform, what Brussels calls "approximation" of other countries’ legal and political institutions with its own — as both imperialist and neocolonial. This is all the more significant taking into account the United States’ plans to weave together a US-Middle East Free Trade Agreement (MEFTA). For the two are in direct competition. EMFTA was supposed to be completed by 2010. However, a sustainability impact assessment of EMFTA commissioned by the EU already foresees important negative social and environmental consequences. Complicating things further, French President Sarkozy took the initiative to set up a Union for the Mediterranean, involving only the countries that border the sea, which was launched in July 2008. Further still, questions have been arising as to why the EU does not merge its Mediterranean FTA initiative with its GCC FTA initiative. In September 2011, the EU announced the opening of "deep and comprehensive" trade negotiations with Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. In February 2012, the EU and Morocco signed an agricultural trade deal (which also covers fisheries). Critics have noted that the agreement will promote the exploitation of the disputed territory of Western Sahara, that the main benefactors will be transnational companies and the King of Morocco, and that small farmers will suffer under the deal. last update: May 2012 Articles
EU’s trade policy with Israel continues to be business as usual, including trade in military hardware. 
Western Sahara Campaign UK is threatening legal action against the British government for treating imported products originating in Western Sahara as Moroccan for the purposes of the EU–Morocco Association Agreement. 
EU inaction is likely to further bolster the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement if it is seen as the only effective avenue for European rejection of Israeli policies.
Algeria: EU Association Agreement has not had the desired effect, says Benyounes
| 24-November-2014
The Algeria-EU trade deal has not had the desired effect of promoting non-oil exports and attracting foreign investment, Trade Minister Amara Benyounes said. 
The huge number of mainstream organizations that are calling for the suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement reflects the growing frustration across Europe with the failure of European governments to respond to Israel’s repeated massacres and violations of international law. 
More than 300 human rights groups, trade unions and political parties from across Europe called on the EU to hold Israel accountable for its massacre committed in Gaza earlier this year by suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement, the main treaty between the EU and Israel. 
The European Court of Justice has in an answer to a question from a Swedish court of appeal informed that private fisheries agreements with Moroccan authorities are not allowed outside of the context of the EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Agreement. 
L’Union européenne menace implicitement mais de manière déterminée de réexaminer ses liens bilatéraux avec Israël si le gouvernement de Netanyahu ne s’implique pas dans une solution à deux Etats et continue de mettre en œuvre sa politique actuelle qui est d’autoriser les constructions au-delà des lignes antérieures à 1967. 
The European Union’s key trade and political agreement with the European Union should be suspended in response to the recent attack on Gaza, according to 24 Palestinian campaign groups. 
For the first time in almost three years, an EU member state fishing vessel has been detected in the waters of occupied Western Sahara. 0 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | ... | 200 | archives |
 
European Commission’s clever ruse to introduce corporate sovereignty regardless of ratification votes in EU
| 25-Jan-2015
Lowest common denominator: EU-US trade deal threatens to lower standards of protection from toxic pesticides
| 8-Jan-2015
Signature des Accords de partenariat economiques : La coalition «Non aux APE» exige de Macky Sall un debat national
| 2-Jan-2015
It doesn’t matter who does the lobbying: Trade agreements aren’t the place for internet regulations
| 22-Dec-2014
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