European Commission Directorate-General for Trade

Euro-Mediterranean partnership

The key objective of the trade partnership is the creation of a deep Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area, which aims at removing barriers to trade and investment between both the EU and Southern Mediterranean countries and between the Southern Mediterranean countries themselves. Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements are in force with most of the partners (with the exception of Syria and Libya).

The scope of these agreements is essentially limited to trade in goods and a number of bilateral negotiations are on-going or being prepared in order to deepen the Association Agreements. These ongoing or future negotiations are related to further liberalisation of trade in agriculture, liberalisation of trade in services, accreditation and acceptance of industrial products and regulatory convergence. 

Trade picture

• Together the region represents 9.4% of total EU external trade in 2016.

 

 

 

 

EU and the Mediterranean region

The Union for the Mediterranean aims to establish a common area of peace, stability, and shared prosperity in the Euro-Mediterranean region.
EU-Southern Mediterranean relations at bilateral level are managed mainly through the Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements.

• Nearly all countries have concluded Association Agreements with the EU. Preparations are going to deepen these agreements through the establishment of deep and comprehensive free trade areas.
• Negotiations for a Framework Agreement between the European Union and Libya are currently suspended.
•  Steps towards the signature of the initialed Association Agreement with Syria are currently suspended.

Country	Status	Date signed	Entry into Force	Reference
Algeria	Signed	April 2002	September 2005	OJ L 265
Egypt	Signed	June 2001	June 2004	OJ L 304
Israel	Signed	Nov 1995	June 2000	OJ L 147
Jordan	Signed	Nov 1997	May 2002	OJ L 129/02
Lebanon	Signed	June 2002	April 2006	OJ L 143/06
Morocco	Signed	Feb 1996	March 2000	OJ L 70/00
Palestine	Signed	Feb 1997	Interim Agreement July 1997	OJ L 187/97
Syria	Initialled (December 2008)
Tunisia	Signed	July 1995	March 1998	OJ L 97/98
Turkey	Customs Union January 1996	Customs Union	December 1995	OJ L 35/96

These agreements cover trade in goods and are complemented with a number of additional ongoing negotiations and preparations for future negotiations:

• to open up additional agricultural trade,
• liberalise trade in services and investment,
• to negotiate agreements on accreditation and acceptance of industrial products,
• to establish deep and comprehensive free trade areas.

Deepening South-South economic integration is a key goal of the Euro-Mediterranean trade partnership. It is an essential element towards the establishment of a fully-fledged Free Trade Area. However, regional economic integration between Southern Mediterranean countries is still limited: intra-regional trade is a small fraction (5.9% in exports, 5.1% in imports) of the countries’ total trade , one of the lowest levels of regional economic integration in the World.
The EU supports the strengthening of trade relations amongst Southern Mediterranean countries:

• the Agadir Agreement between Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, and Egypt, in force since 2007, remains open to other Arab Mediterranean countries;
• Israel and Jordan have signed a Free Trade Agreement;
• Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Syria and Tunisia have signed bilateral agreements with Turkey.
• Negotiations are underway between other Mediterranean countries to establish similar agreements.

The EU works closely with each of its Southern Mediterranean partners to support economic and social transition and reform, taking into account each country’s specific needs and characteristics. These programmes are funded under the European Neighbourhood Policy.

Trading with Euromed region

• The EU is present on the ground in the region through Delegations in Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey
• Trade relations are part of the EU's overall political and economic relations with the region
• The Union for the Mediterranean.
• Sustainability impact assessment for the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area (EMFTA)