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Sustainability Impact Assessment of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area

Brussels, 10 July 2007

SECOND REPORT: PHASE 3: 'MONITORING PROPOSALS, CASE STUDY FINDINGS AND PRELIMINARY RECOMMENDATIONS'

Friends of the Earth MedNet submission to the stakeholder consultation of 10 July 2007

General Remarks

The trade liberalisation process under the EMFTA should specifically be geared to:

1. a) Facilitating the full implementation of the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD) and national strategies for sustainable development (NSSDs);
2. b) Within this context support and enhance the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals by the Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs);
3. c) Be supportive of policies and programmes to prepare for and adapt to the impacts of climate change, in particular as regards water resources, soils, biodiversity, and the related need to introduce and sustain resilient agricultural and forestry systems, as well as water-efficient agricultural and industrial techniques.

We consider that both capacity building and outreach activities have a fundamental role to play in the implementation of the recommendations of the SIA. They need to be prioritized now. Knowledge of the SIA and its findings is too low particularly in MPCs but also generally throughout the region.

Friends of the Earth MedNet believes outreach in favour of the SIA can best be done by holding a regional multistakeholder conference in the Mediterranean to discuss the SIA and its recommendations in the course of the next 6 months.

This should then be complemented with national workshops in MPCs analysing the specific national and local impacts of the EMFTA and the recommendations for enhancing and mitigating these impacts.

In terms of visibility to complement the outreach activities suggested above, Friends of the Earth MedNet calls on the European Commission to immediately publish a multilingual CDROM on the SIA of the EMFTA as well as country specific fact sheets/leaflets to disseminate the results of the SIA as widely as possible.

Mediterranean stakeholders need to hear from the European Commission on how it will address the results and recommendations of the SIA. We call on the European Commission to prepare a communication reacting to this SIA report and indicating what it plans to do to implement the recommendations contained therein.

We call on Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs) to take into consideration the largely adverse social and environmental impacts of free trade with the EU when adopting their negotiating positions and consider the advantages of a multilateral approach to free trade negotiations with the EU in order to achieve a more just trading system in the region.

We note the numerous and costly mitigation measures that MPCs will need to take to avoid the worst of the adverse social and environmental impacts of free trade, and at the same time the limited mitigating measures that EU needs to take. We wonder how and if these measures will be financed.

SECTION A - Monitoring Mechanism

We support the establishment of a multi-stakeholder mechanism along the lines suggested in the latest SIA EMFTA report (Phase 3).

We urge that its setting up should be mandated by the forthcoming Conference of Euro-Mediterranean Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Lisbon, on 5 November 2007 so that it can start its work in 2008.

Therefore, work should start immediately within the EuroMed Committee on the draftdecision to submit to the Foreign Ministers.

The issue of capacity building at institutional and civil society level to enable EMFTA stakeholders to contribute to the monitoring of the EMFTA needs to be addressed to strengthen the contribution from all stakeholders from all regions of the Mediterranean.

Parliamentarians should also be represented in the monitoring mechanism.

The proposed monitoring body should report annually to

1. • The Euro Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA)
2. • The annual conferences of EuroMed Foreign Ministers.

Finally, in view of the preliminary findings of the SIA EMFTA, and the need for careful modulation of negotiations to avoid the adverse impacts of free trade, as well as time to design national and regional support measures needed to maximise benefits, the target date of 2010 for full trade liberalisation should be postponed.

END

The Sustainability Impact Assessment of the Euro-Med Free Trade Area