Morocco's 1995 Association Agreement with the European Union

Journal of North African Studies

Volumn 3, Issue 4, 1998, Pages 91-112

  Damis, John ^a  

^a PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AGRICULTURAL TRADE; EUROPEAN UNION; FISHING INDUSTRY; TRADE RELATIONS;

MOROCCO;

EID: 0032293460     PISSN: 13629387     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13629389808718345     Document Type: Article

References (47)

1. Quoted in I. William Zartman, 'North Africa and the EEC Negotiations', Middle East Journal, 22/1 (Winter 1968) p.2.
2. Ali Bahaijoub, 'Morocco's Argument to Join the EEC', in George Joffé (ed.), North Africa: Nation, State and Region (London and New York: Routledge 1993) p.236; Zartman (see note 1) p.2.
3. I. William Zartman, Politics of Trade Negotiations between Africa and the EEC (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press 1971) p.120.
4. Quoted in Zartman (see note 3).
5. Ibid., p.148.
6. Ibid., p.137.
7. Ibid., pp.142-4 and 154, n.65. There was no EEC tariff on phosphates, which made up 16 percent of Morocco's exports to the Community. Morocco's agricultural exports to the EEC at this time accounted for 50 per cent of its total agricultural exports.
8. Bahaijoub (see note 2) pp.235-6; Jesus A. Nuñez Villaverde, 'The European Union and Morocco in the Frame of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership', The Maghreb Review, 21/1-2 (1996) p.49.
9. Bahaijoub (see note 2) p.236.
10. Gregory W. White, 'The Mexico of Europe? Morocco's Partnership with the European Union', in Dirk Vandewalle (ed.), North Africa: Development and Reform in a Changing Global Economy (New York: St. Martin's Press 1996) pp.119-20. Figures for the four financial protocols, including the following breakdown, were supplied by the Rabat Delegation of the European Commission, which provided a detailed breakdown by sector of each protocol which goes beyond the scope of this article. (Throughout this article a constant rate of Ecu = $1.28 is used to express Ecu amounts in dollar equivalents.) Compared to the neighboring North African states, Morocco received 23 per cent more aid from the financial protocols than Algeria and 30 per cent more than Tunisia.
11. Nuñez (see note 8) p.49. Of particular relevance regarding internal reports within the European Commission were the reports by Abel Matutes, the European Commissioner for Mediterranean Policy, Relations with Latin America and Asia, and North-South Relations (shortened hereafter as European Commissioner for Mediterranean Policy).
12. Bahaijoub (see note 2) p.236.
13. Loc. cit.; White, p.111.
14. Peter Ludlow, 'The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership: The Political and Institutional Dimension', in Shireen T. Hunter et al., 'The CEPS Agenda for Action on the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership', mimeo. (Brussels: Center for European Policy Studies, November 1995), p.3.
15. Nuñez (see note 8) p.49.
16. Ibid., p.50.
17. Loc. cit.
18. Ludlow (see note 14) p.3.
19. Nuñez (note 8) p.50.
20. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities 19 October 1994.
21. Ibid., pp.50-51; Ludlow (see note 14) p.3. By comparison, this enhanced level of grant assistance represented 70 per cent of the assistance allocated to the Associated States of Central and Eastern Europe for the same period (Ecu 6.693 billion/$8.567 billion).
22. Euro-Mediterranean Partnership: Barcelona Declaration, Work Programme (Brussels: European Commission, Directorate General IB External Relations, n.d.). The second Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Foreign Affairs Ministers took place on Malta in mid-April 1997.
23. See 'Projet de directives de negociation', Economap (Rabat), special issue on 'Maroc/CEE: Cooperation & Partenariat', December 1992, pp.19-24. In addition to the text itself, this issue contains many useful commentaries and analyses of the Negotiation Instructions Draft.
24. Economap ( Ibid., p.1.
25. Quoted in 'The New Euro-Mediterranean Economic Area: Proceedings', mimeo. (Brussels: Club de Bruxelles, 1996), p.19.
26. Royaume du Maroc, 'Nouvel accord Maroc-Union européenne: Memorandum marocain', mimeo. (Rabat, 14 February 1994).
27. Royaume du Maroc, 'Nouvel accord Maroc-Union européenne: Memorandum marocain', Ibid., p.16.
28. The treatment of the fisheries issue in the remainder of this article draws freely from a companion article by the author on this subject, 'Morocco's 1995 Fisheries Agreement with the European Union: A Crisis Resolved', Mediterranean Politics, 3/2 (Autumn 1998) pp.61-73
29. Nuñez (see note 8) p.57.
30. White (see note 10) p.125.
31. Le Monde, 14 January 1995, p.5.
32. 'The New Euro-Mediterranean Economic Area: Proceedings' (see note 25) p.20.
33. Quoted in The Economist, 9 September 1995, pp.47-8.
34. Quoted in Nuñez (see note 8) p.54. 35. Middle East International, No. 508 (8 September 1995), pp.11-12.
35. Nuñez (see note 8) p.54.
36. By the end of 1998, 14 of the 15 national parliaments within the EU had ratified the agreement. The one remaining EU member state, Italy, was expected to complete the ratification process in 1999.
37. MEDA Program summary from the Rabat Delegation of the European Commission. The economic transition funds are for projects to raise the competitiveness of the Moroccan economy to international standards, professional training, and support for Morocco's structural adjustment program. The social and economic development funds are for water projects, integrated rural development, education, health, and civil society assistance.
38. 'Euro-Mediterranean Agreement Establishing an Association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the One Part, and the Kingdom of Morocco, of the Other Part,' mimeo. (Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, n.d.).
39. 'Euro-Mediterranean Agreement Establishing an Association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the One Part, and the Kingdom of Morocco, of the Other Part,' Ibid., p.4.
40. To cite one of numerous examples, at the time of his October 1997 visit to Rabat, European Investment Bank President Sir Brian Unwin announced some 200 million Ecu ($256 million) in loans for Morocco for 1998. (Le Matin du Sahara et du Maghreb, 31 October 1997, p.2.) See also White (see note 10) p.125, for an account of the European Commission's increased efforts, by 1994, to encourage both direct European investment and joint venture operations in Morocco.
41. From his statement in 'Morocco in the Global Economy: A Roundtable Discussion', mimeo. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, Center for Middle Eastern Studies 1998) pp.11-12.
42. 'Morocco in the Global Economy: A Roundtable Discussion,' Ibid., p.12. To be sure, Morocco has carried out a well-publicised programme of economic liberalisation since 1983, including attempts at structural adjustment. According to a World Bank expert, however, Morocco's economic reforms until 1994-95 focused mainly on macro-economic stabilization. Faced with the pressing need in the 1980s to reduce the very large budget and current accounts deficits, fiscal consolidation took priority over structural adjustment and trade liberalization. It is only since 1994-95 that 'serious' structural adjustment has begun. As a result, Morocco still has today 'one of the highest rates of tariff and protection of any sizable developing country'.
43. (Uri Dadush, from his statement in 'Morocco in the Global Economy: A Roundtable Discussion,' ibid., pp.21-2.)
44. Nuñez (see note 8) p.57.
45. 'Euro-Mediterranean Agreement', Protocol 1; L'économiste, 30 November 1995, p.22.
46. New York Times, 14 March 1999, p.10.
47. Khalil Zniber, 'La pêche ... au partenariat', Jeune Afrique, No. 1900 (4-10 June 1997), p.39.