PURPOSE: the conclusion of an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the EU and Morocco concerning reciprocal liberalisation measures on agricultural and fishery products, the replacement of Protocols 1, 2 and 3 and their Annexes and amendments to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an EU-Morocco association.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Council Decision 2012/497/EU on the conclusion of an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco concerning reciprocal liberalisation measures on agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products, the replacement of Protocols 1, 2 and 3 and their Annexes and amendments to the 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.

BACKGROUND: Article 16 of the 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, which has been in force since 1 March 2000, provides for the gradual implementation of greater liberalisation of reciprocal trade in agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products.

In July 2005, the EU-Morocco Association Council adopted an Action Plan of the European Neighbourhood Policy including a specific provision having the objective of the further liberalisation of trade in agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products.

On 14 October 2005, the Council authorised the Commission to conduct negotiations with the Kingdom of Morocco within the framework of the Association Agreement, in order to achieve that objective. On 14 December 2009, the Commission concluded negotiations on behalf of the Union in respect of an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters with the aim of amending the Association Agreement.

The Agreement should be approved on behalf of the EU.

CONTENT: under this Decision, the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the EU and Morocco concerning reciprocal liberalisation measures on agricultural and fishery products, the replacement of Protocols 1, 2 and 3 and their Annexes and amendments to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an EU-Morocco association is approved.

It relates to technical changes in order to provide for measures in the following areas:

sanitary and phytosanitary measures, the approximation of technical standards, the harmonisation of legislation, and the protection of geographical indications.

Safeguard measures: provisions are made for the laying down of the procedure to be followed when the Union has to introduce safeguard measures in regard to the agricultural products, fish and fishery products, covered by the Association Agreement.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: the Decision enters into force on 8 March 2012. The Agreement will enter into force once the necessary procedures to this effect have been completed.

Decision 2012/497
OJ L 241 07.09.2012, p. 0002

Results of vote in Parliament

The European Parliament adopted by 369 votes to 225, with 31 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the draft Council decision on the conclusion of an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco concerning reciprocal liberalisation measures on agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products, the replacement of Protocols 1, 2 and 3 and their Annexes and amendments to the 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.

Parliament gives its consent to the conclusion of this agreement.

It should be noted that Parliament adopted on the same day a joint resolution on the agreement and on its economic and trade implications in a broader sense (see 2012/2522(RSP) ).

T7-0056/2012

Debate in Parliament

The Committee on International Trade adopted the report by José BOVÉ (Greens/EFA, FR) in which it recommends the European Parliament to give its consent to the draft Council decision on the conclusion of an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco concerning reciprocal liberalisation measures on agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products, the replacement of Protocols 1, 2 and 3 and their Annexes and amendments to the 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.

It should be noted that the recommendation of the Committee on International Trade to approve the agreement was made contrary to the opinion adopted by the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, which considers that this agreement is unbalanced with regard to tariffs (with potentially negative implications on regions which specialise in vegetable cultivation) and raises doubts about the ability of the Community system’s ability to monitor and enforce time frames and tariff quotas, which are often ignored by Moroccan operators.

A7-0023/2012

PE478.679

PE475.761

PE469.875

PE456.662

PURPOSE: to conclude an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the EU and Morocco concerning reciprocal liberalisation measures on agricultural and fishery products, the replacement of Protocols 1, 2 and 3 and their Annexes and amendments to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an EU-Morocco Association.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.

BACKGROUND: Article 16 of the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement which has been in force since 1 March 2000, provides that the Community and Morocco will gradually implement greater liberalisation of their reciprocal trade in agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products.

In July 2005, the EU-Morocco Association Council adopted an Action Plan of the European Neighbourhood Policy including a specific provision having the objective of the further liberalisation of trade in agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products.

On 14 October 2005, the Council authorised the Commission to conduct negotiations with Morocco within the framework of the Association Agreement, in order to achieve that objective.

On 14 December 2009, the Commission concluded negotiations on behalf of the Union in respect of an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters with the aim of amending the Association Agreement.

It is now necessary to approve the Agreement on behalf of the Union.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT: no impact assessment was carried out.

LEGAL BASE: the first subparagraph of Article 207(4), in conjunction with Article 218(6)(a) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

CONTENT: with this draft Decision, the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the EU and Morocco concerning reciprocal liberalisation measures on agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products, the replacement of Protocols 1, 2 and 3 and their Annexes and amendments to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and Morocco, of the other part, is approved on behalf of the European Union.

Safeguard measure : the text includes specific provisions on safeguard measures. It states that the Union needs to take a safeguard measure concerning agricultural products, fish and fishery products.

The text of the Agreement is attached to this Decision (see Council Doc 15974/10 ).

For details of the content of the Agreement please refer to the previous initial legislative document dated 16/09/2010.

BUDGETARY IMPLICATION: the proposal has no implications for the Union’s budget.

15975/2010

The document presents the definitive text of the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the EU and Morocco concerning reciprocal liberalisation measures on agricultural and fishery products, the replacement of Protocols 1, 2 and 3 and their Annexes and amendments to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an EU-Morocco Association.

To recall, Article 16 of the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement which has been in force since 1 March 2000, provides that the Community and Morocco will gradually implement greater liberalisation of their reciprocal trade in agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products.

On 14 October 2005, the Council authorised the Commission to conduct negotiations within the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean agreement with Morocco, in view of the progress made by Morocco as regards the European Neighbourhood Policy Action Plan, adopted in July 2005, in order to achieve greater liberalisation of reciprocal trade in agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products, in the spirit of the Barcelona Process and in line with the principles of the European Neighbourhood Policy and the conclusions of the Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Ministers for Foreign Affairs (Luxembourg - May 2005).

This text formalises the result of the negotiations and the final Agreement between the families, that it is now necessary to approve the Agreement on behalf of the Union.

For further details on the provisions of the Agreement, please refer to the previous initial legislative document dated 16/09/2010.

15974/2010

PURPOSE: to conclude an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the EU and Morocco concerning reciprocal liberalisation measures on agricultural and fishery products, the replacement of Protocols 1, 2 and 3 and their Annexes and amendments to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an EU-Morocco Association.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.

BACKGROUND: Article 16 of the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement which has been in force since 1 March 2000, provides that the Community and Morocco will gradually implement greater liberalisation of their reciprocal trade in agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products.

In July 2005, the EU-Morocco Association Council adopted an Action Plan of the European Neighbourhood Policy including a specific provision having the objective of the further liberalisation of trade in agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products.

On 14 October 2005, the Council authorised the Commission to conduct negotiations with Morocco within the framework of the Association Agreement, in order to achieve that objective.

On 14 December 2009, the Commission concluded negotiations on behalf of the Union in respect of an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters with the aim of amending the Association Agreement.

It is now necessary to approve the Agreement on behalf of the Union.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT: no impact assessment was carried out.

LEGAL BASE: the first subparagraph of Article 207(4), in conjunction with Article 218(6)(a) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

CONTENT: with this draft Decision, the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the EU and Morocco concerning reciprocal liberalisation measures on agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products, the replacement of Protocols 1, 2 and 3 and their Annexes and amendments to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and Morocco, of the other part, is approved on behalf of the European Union.

Safeguard measure : the text includes specific provisions on safeguard measures. It states that the Union needs to take a safeguard measure concerning agricultural products, fish and fishery products.

The text of the Agreement is attached to this Decision (see Council Doc 15974/10 ).

For details of the content of the Agreement please refer to the previous initial legislative document dated 16/09/2010.

BUDGETARY IMPLICATION: the proposal has no implications for the Union’s budget.

15975/2010

PURPOSE: the conclusion of an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the EU and Morocco concerning reciprocal liberalisation measures on agricultural and fishery products, the replacement of Protocols 1, 2 and 3 and their Annexes and amendments to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an EU-Morocco Association.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.

BACKGROUND: Article 16 of the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and Morocco, of the other part, which has been in force since 1 March 2000, provides that the Community and Morocco will gradually implement greater liberalisation of their reciprocal trade in agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products.

On 14 October 2005, the Council authorised the Commission to conduct negotiations within the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean agreement with Morocco, in view of the progress made by Morocco as regards the European Neighbourhood Policy Action Plan, adopted in July 2005, in order to achieve greater liberalisation of reciprocal trade in agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products, in the spirit of the Barcelona Process and in line with the principles of the European Neighbourhood Policy and the conclusions of the Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Ministers for Foreign Affairs (Luxembourg - May 2005).

On 14 December 2009, the Commission concluded negotiations on behalf of the Union on an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters with a view to amending the Association Agreement with Morocco, which now needs to be approved on behalf of the EU.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT: no impact assessment was undertaken.

LEGAL BASE: the first subparagraph of Article 207(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European union (TFEU), in conjunction with Article 218(6)(a) thereof.

CONTENT: the purpose of this proposal is the conclusion of the Agreement in the form of the Exchange of Letters between the EU and Morocco concerning reciprocal liberalisation measures on agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products, the replacement of Protocols 1, 2 and 3 and their Annexes and amendments to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and Morocco, of the other part.

The draft agreement is based on the conclusions of the Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Agriculture in Venice of 27 November 2003 which provides that action should be taken with regard to the following areas:

sanitary and phytosanitary measures, the approximation of technical standards, the harmonisation of legislation, and the protection of geographical indications.

In order to implement the results of the negotiations concluded with Morocco, the Commission proposes to the Council that the following technical changes are made to the Association Agreement:

the replacement of Protocols 1, 2 and 3 and their annexes, the repeal of Article 10, the amendment of the title of Chapter II, the amendment of Articles 7, 15 and 17 and the amendment of Article 18(1).

The intention of both sides is that this Agreement should enter into force from 1 January 2011 .

Furthermore, to reinforce the existing cooperation on sanitary and phytosanitary issues and issues relating to technical barriers to trade, specific provisions are added to Article 3 of Title II of the Protocol 1 of this Agreement.

Regarding the protection of geographical indications and denominations of origin, the Parties have agreed to open negotiations no later than one year after the entry into force of this Agreement.

The agreement also includes provisions to enable the EU to introduce safeguard measures in regard to the agricultural products, fish and fishery products, covered by the Association Agreement.

The Council is requested to adopt the proposed decision after the approval of the European Parliament.

BUDGETARY IMPACT: the proposal has no impact on the EU’s budget.

COM(2010)0485
EUR-Lex