A new round of EU – Egyptian association agreement negotiations started in Cairo with the objective of ratifying an agreement between the two sides. During their two-day deliberations the two sides will discuss three main issues, covering “renovation of industry, the exports, rules of origin (the original source of the production) and agriculture. ” A comprehensive report will be submitted on the results of the meetings which will conclude today to the political leadership in Egypt and the European Union to take the proper decision concerning pending issues, foremost being agricultural issues.
The Egyptian side is led by chief of the partnership unity at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Gamal al Bayoumi, and the EU by the head of unity, Peter Zingle Taking part in the session were a number of negotiators in all matters debated for discussions, especially agricultural issues. It is expected that number of these issues will be totally settled at the end of the meetings, and a number of agricultural issues will be left for decisions to be taken on the political level by the European and Egyptian sides. The new round of negotiations for Egyptian partnership with the European Union, is to be held in Cairo, on November 9 – 12.
Egypt’s assistant foreign minister and chairman of Egyptian – European partnership, Gamal Bayoumi, said that the new talks are aimed at resolving as many issues as possible, so the EU and Egypt can submit subjects that are not settled yet to their political leadership. Despite grave shortcomings in environmental provisions, the EU’s association and trade agreement with Egypt has been adopted at the EU’s General Council meeting in Luxembourg from 21-22 June 1999, warns Friends of the Earth Europe (FoEE), a federation of independent environmental groups in 29 countries.
The association agreement now needs to be reviewed in a high-level ministerial committee in Egypt, then to be signed in autumn and afterwards ratified in the 15 EU national parliaments and the European Parliament. ‘At this stage we will call upon government representatives in the EU and in the Egyptian government not to sign the agreement. Deficiencies in environmental protection measures first need to be rectified so that an association agreement will lead to the benefit for the people and the environment’, says Alexandra Wandel, Trade and Sustainability expert of FoEE.
The EU committed itself in various EU and international agreements to incorporate environmental considerations into all its community policies. The EU does not live up to its commitments in the association agreement with Egypt. Recommendations from several environmental groups for a balanced trade policy and for the integration of environmental provisions of the bilateral trade agreements have been ignored as well by Commission and Council representatives of the EU’, comments Wandel.
The EU-Egyptian bilateral agreement was developed under the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership which was set up in Barcelona in 1995. The Euro-Med Partnership aims to set up a Mediterranean Free Trade Zone (MFTZ) by the year 2010 by gradually concluding association agreements with the 12 Southern Mediterranean states. The MFTZ gradually will lead to the elimination of tariffs in industrial and agricultural goods as well as services.
The setting up of the Mediterranean Free Trade Zone will have far reaching negative environmental and social consequences’, says Munqeth Mehyar, chairperson of Friends of the Earth Middle East. ‘Without proper environmental provision, we will soon see the migration of dirty industries to the Southern Mediterranean countries. Already nowadays the coast of Alexandria in Egypt is a zone of heavy polluting industries that destroy the fragile ecosystem of the Mediterranean Sea.
Friends of the Earth calls for a strategic sustainability assessment before any further trade liberalisation negotiations continue’, says Wandel. ‘The EU has a responsibility to raise environmental standards in the partner countries as well as to guarantee that through the association agreements environmental regulations in the EU will not be downward harmonised’, warned Wandel. The EU has already adopted association agreements with Israel, Jordan, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority and Tunisia.
Agreements with Lebanon, Algeria and Syria are underway. Apart from bilateral association agreements, the MFTZ is built up through joint activities in the area of water, energy, transport and agriculture. If created, the MFTZ will be the most populous free trade zone in the world. Trade between the EU and Egypt was worth more than 9. 7 billion euros ($10 billion) in 1998. The EU is Egypt’s main trading partner, accounting for about 40 percent of its total foreign trade. This gives the EU a signficant impact in terms of influencing Egypt’s environment.