Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 5 • Number 21 • 25th November 2005
EU to Establish Free Trade Zone for Fish and Agriculture in Mediterranean
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The European Union started negotiations on 14 November with its Euro-Mediterranean partners to reduce tariffs on imports of fish and agriculture products as planned in the 1995 Barcelona Declaration. Senior officials kicked off the process, which aims to have a EuroMed Free Trade Area (EMFTA) by 2010, at the first meeting of the Follow-up Committee for the Euro-Mediterranean Roadmap for Agriculture in Brussels. “I believe that trade liberalisation in fisheries products will bring economic benefits and help strengthen co-operation in ensuring sustainable fisheries in the Mediterranean,” Joe Borg, EU Commissioner of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, said. Environmental group Friends of the Earth, on the other hand, said that negotiations should be halted until the end of 2006 when the Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) commissioned by the EU will issue its recommendations on the proposed fish and agriculture liberalisation. The EuroMed countries, which include Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Tunisia and Turkey, have substantial fisheries sectors that, according to WWF, are characterised by widespread violation of management rules that could make them vulnerable to overfishing. In the Mediterranean tuna fishery, for example, WWF has pointed to fishing levels that are over two times higher than the bluefin tuna populations can sustain.
“EU to open farm trade talks with Euro-Med countries,” EUROPEAN UNION, 15 November 2005; “EU to open farm trade talks with Euro-Med countries,” FISHUPDATE, 16 November 2005; “Letter to Director General DG RELEX,” FOE MEDNET AND COMITÉ DE SUIVI, 26 September 2005; “2005 fishing season decimates Mediterranean bluefin tuna,” WWF, 16 November 2005.
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