Members of the European Parliament scrutinise Euro-Mediterranean Process
New research highlights detrimental effects of trade liberalisation

Members of the European Parliament and national Parliaments committed themselves to closely monitor the social and environmental impacts of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, especially the policy process of setting up the Euro-Med Free Trade Zone (MFTZ) at a conference in Brussels yesterday. Friends of the Earth Middle East, a regional federation of environmental organisations, urged the Partnership to create a Euro-Med Sustainability Commission whose mandate would be to ensure that the MFTZ supports sustainable development around the Mediterranean. These calls were made in the European Parliament at the conference on the subject "Euro-Med Free Trade Zone - Can It Be Sustainable?".

Representatives from the European Commission's Directorate Generals for External Relations and the Environment re-committed themselves to undertaking a formal sustainability assessment of the Euro-Med trade programme - a commitment originally made last April at the 3rd Ministerial Euro-Mediterranean Conference (Barcelona III), but with no follow up so far.

180 representatives from the European Commission, the European Parliament, national Parliaments, the Economic and Social Committee, Permanent Representation offices of the EU member states, Diplomatic Missions of Southern Mediterranean countries, NGOs, research institutes, universities and business interest groups participated in the event. For the first time representatives from a broad range of sectors came together to discuss the potential social and environmental effects of the regional trade liberalisation programme.

The conference was organised by Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) and Friends of the Earth Europe (FoEE), in coordination with the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE) EU, Friends of the Earth Mednet and the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). The results of a study undertaken by Egyptian, Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian experts highlighted potentially detrimental environmental effects of trade liberalisation including increasing pressure on the scarce water resources and probable increases in transport and industrial pollution in the Southern Mediterranean region. According to the research such trends are already underway. The study found that Southern Mediterranean producers were not in a position to take advantage of possible environmental opportunities such as organic agriculture and eco-labeling markets due to a lack of infrastructure and institutional support - something they called on the Euro-Med process to invest in.

The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership is a policy forum involving the EU and 12 non-EU Mediterranean Partner countries. It calls for an economic and social partnership including the establishment of a regional Free Trade Zone by the year 2010.

For more information and a copy of the study, please contact :
Friends of the Earth Europe, Tel: 54201 85
GLOBE EU, Tel: 230 6589
Friends of the Earth Middle East, Tel: +972-2-532 4667