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Dangers and opportunities in Euro-Med trade talks
Background paper by Fouad Hamdan, Director of Friends of the Earth Europe
Saturday, June 24, 2006
The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership between the powerful European Union bloc and the rather divided southern and eastern rim nations of the Mediterranean Basin aims to set up a free trade area by 2010, barring nothing. The plans to liberalize trade between the EU and its Arab partners could have ruinous results for the people and environment of the Arab region. The next crucial steps in this direction are to be debated in the next two days at a meeting at ministerial level in Tunis.
While the EU claims that such an agreement could relieve tensions in the region and bring wealth and stability, Mediterranean environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) believe the deal could spur social and environmental mayhem in the south. What we need is a just and sustainable trading system in the Mediterranean - not free trade at the expense of the weak and the environment.
Take market access for agricultural products and services and the planned liberalization of these sensitive sectors. The fact is that a high percentage of the poorest Arab people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for part or all of their income. This is the case in Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and Syria. If agriculture trade is fully liberalized, there will be an inevitable move from small to larger-scale farming. This will require much more irrigation in an area where water is already a scarce resource, exacerbating the problem of desertification. Moving toward mono-cropping and large-scale tilling of the land will also have a negative impact on soil quality.
For many farmers in Syria, the Palestinian territories, Egypt and the Maghreb states, local markets are far more important than international ones. It is therefore essential for these farmers to be able to sell their products locally. Unregulated and rapid agricultural trade liberalization will open these local markets to cheap imported products, putting some local farmers out of business altogether. This will clearly have negative social effects and will fuel a considerable rural exodus to urban slums. The full scale of the social and environmental problems is unimaginable.
Regarding trade liberalization and privatization in services, experience around the world gives reason for Arab citizens to be seriously worried. They may face diminishing access to services such as water, health, education and energy. These essential services are also likely to deteriorate in quality. As well as associated job losses, jobs may become more insecure and workers' rights may be curtailed.
Friends of the Earth Europe and others who work to protect human rights and the environment believe that trade liberalization negotiations for services must exclude those services that are vital to human development, such as water, energy, education and health. This demand is supported by the preliminary findings of a Sustainability Impact Assessment of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area. The study, conducted by Manchester University in Britain, on request from the European Commission, predicts widespread adverse social and environmental impact for southern and eastern Mediterranean countries.
The study identifies the following potential social impacts: a significant rise in unemployment, particularly following liberalization of trade in industrial products and agriculture; a fall in wage rates associated with increased unemployment; a significant loss in government revenues, with consequent social impact through reduced expenditure on health, education and social support programs; greater vulnerability of poor households to fluctuations in world market prices for basic foods; adverse effects on the status, living standards and health of rural women.
The main adverse environmental impacts that have been identified are: significant local impact on water resources, soil fertility and biodiversity in areas of high existing stress (industrial farming, industry, etc.); poorer living conditions in cities, resulting from declining rural employment and accelerated rural-urban migration; higher air pollution and coastal water pollution from greater transport activity; and higher waste generation from greater use of packaging materials.
A wealthy European country could perhaps take certain measures to avoid these predicted adverse effects. But the non-EU countries in the Mediterranean Basin do not have the necessary expertise or budgets. In addition, in those southern and eastern Mediterranean states that are not democracies, there are no independent public institutions that are professional enough to steer decision-makers on a safe path toward fair trade.
Under these circumstances, one must call into question the claim by European and Arab leaders that trade liberalization will deliver the goals of peace, stability and prosperity. Also, it must not be forgotten that even the supporters of the free trade area expect only a modest welfare gain under the current plan.
We at Friends of the Earth Europe and our partners on this issue do not reject a market-oriented approach per se. We evaluate each proposal on its own merits, and we are critical of actions that are likely to harm the environment and local communities. The rights of people and long-term sustainability must always come before the interests of companies. We would oppose a privatization scheme if, for example, social and environmental standards were breached and the principle of environmental justice were violated.
When they meet their EU counterparts in Tunis, Arab Mediterranean leaders from Morocco to Syria should reconsider the 2010 target date for establishing the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area. Such a historic undertaking should be strongly financed, and requires carefully designed measures to ensure social and political stability, and to protect the environment. Trade negotiations therefore should be suspended until the ongoing Manchester University study on the free trade area's potential social and environmental impacts is completed. The EU and its Arab partners should then fully incorporate the Sustainability Impact Assessment recommendations into their trade negotiations.
At the same time, the EU should insist that Arab states develop fair and sustainable economies promoting education, employment, health and social welfare for everyone. Public participation must be guaranteed, meaning that free trade must go hand in hand with developing democracy in the region.
Fouad Hamdan, who established Greenpeace in Lebanon in 1994-1999, is the director of Friends of the Earth Europe. This background paper has been published in the Daily Star, Lebanon.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=73417
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FoEE Mediterranean Programme
Friends of the Earth Europe campaigns for sustainable and fair societies and for the protection of the environment,
unites more than 30 national organisations with thousands of local groups
and is part of the world's largest grassroots environmental network, Friends of the Earth International.
