WRITTEN QUESTION E-2715/01 by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE-DE) to the Commission. EU — Kingdom of Morocco relations.
Date: 2001-10-03
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU programme, Morocco, aid to agriculture, association agreement (EU), financial compensation of an agreement, fishing agreement, free-trade area

20.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 147 E/43

Furthermore, the new Partnership Agreement between the 77 ACP and the 15 Member States signed in
Cotonou, Benin, on 23 June 2000,
foresees specific possibilities regarding in particular the use of
European Development Fund (EDF) resources for debt relief and the provision of technical assistance in the
area of debt management.

With reference to health, the Community contribution to the Global Fund fighting human immunodefi-
ciency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), malaria and tuberculosis (launched in
Genoa) is part of the Community Programme for Action targeting Communicable Diseases in the context
of poverty reduction which was adopted by the Council on 14 May 2001. President Prodi pledged € 120
million for the Fund. The Commission and the Member States together pledged more than € 1 000 million
out of total pledges of € 1 800 million, thus making the Community the largest contributor.

In order to mobilise the pledged funds the Commission has recently submitted to the budgetary authority a
proposal for a budget transfer of € 60 million to the line for poverty diseases (B7-6211) and for future
contributions, the Commission has proposed to endow a budget line covered by a new regulation on
poverty disease with a substantially increased amount from which to finance the Fund.

(2002/C 147 E/043)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2715/01

by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: EU : Kingdom of Morocco relations

(3 October 2001)

In that reply, Commissioner Patten observes that

In his reply to my question E-2355/01 (1), Commissioner Patten refers me to his answer to written
question E-1228/01 (2).
‘The Commission and the
Kingdom of Morocco signed an Association Agreement which came into force on 1 March 2000. Its long-
term aid is the creation of a free trade area between both parties. The dismantling of tariffs linked to the
Agreement’s implementation will mean on the one hand the gradual opening up of the Moroccan market,
which will be advantageous to Community operators, and on the other hand, will require a major effort by
Moroccan producers to cope with Europrean competition. The MEDA Programme was developed to help
Morocco improve its economy during the transition towards free trade. Nevertheless, it is important to
remember in this context that since the Association Agreement came into force, the dismantling of tariffs
has meant a short-term reduction in the Moroccan annual budget, which the MEDA Programme barely
offsets as a result of the limited Community funding available for cooperation with other countries’.

This reply leaves me speechless with surprise at the Commission’s utter failure to make any reference to
the special conditions and preferential treatment enjoyed by Moroccan exports to the European Union of
agricultural and fishery products, inter alia, within the framework of the Association Agreement. The reply
gives the impression that the Agreement benefits only the EU, and represents a major sacrifice on the part
of Morocco. Nor is there any reference to the substantial financial compensation which the EU offered the
Kingdom of Morocco with a view to securing renewal of the Fishery Agreement, quite apart from the aid it
was already receiving and continues to receive under MEDA.

1.
Can the Commission state the global annual amount which the Kingdom of Morocco has received
and will continue to receive within the framework of the current MEDA Programme, what the purpose of
these payments is and which areas they are to be spent in?

2. What is the rate of take-up of this annual amount to date?

3. What are the details of the conditions and the preferential treatment to be given, within the EU, to
Moroccan exports of agricultural and fishery products under the Association Agreement?

(1) OJ C 350 E, 11.12.2001, p. 239.
(2) OJ C 318 E, 13.11.2001, p. 225.

C 147 E/44

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

20.6.2002

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(15 November 2001)

The Association Agreement with Morocco which came into force on 1 March 2000 aims to implement
the objectives of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership, which were defined in Barcelona in 1995 and set out
in more detail at the Marseilles Fourth Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Foreign Ministers in November
2000. The purpose of economic cooperation with Mediterranean partners is not to set up bilateral
financial compensation mechanisms but to establish a regional free trade area.

In the case of Morocco,
(the main bilateral cooperation
framework for the MEDA programme) does not entail any financial compensation for possible losses
incurred as a result of the risks involved in negotiating the Fishery Agreement.

implementing the Association Agreement

For the period 1995-2000, projects committed under MEDA and the Morocco Protocol totalled € 796,6
million.

For 2000, the figure was €140,6 million, divided among the following priority areas:

: € 52 million for financial sector adjustment,

: € 50 million for health sector adjustment,

: € 27,6 million for the modernisation of the law courts,

: € 9 million for participatory rural development in Khenifra,

: € 1,9 million for solid waste management in Essaouira.

For 1995 to 1999 (launching of the MEDA programme), the commitment/payment ratio was 20,9 %, and
for the year 2000, 28 %.

As regards agriculture, the Association Agreement contains a review clause in Article 16, which states that
the Community and Morocco shall gradually implement greater liberalisation of their reciprocal trade in
agricultural and fishery products.

At the meeting of the EU-Morocco Association Council in Luxembourg on 9 October 2001, both parties
declared that the renegotiation of the agriculture Protocols should move into an active phase and be
concluded before the end of 2002. Consequently, at this stage, it is premature and inadvisable to describe
the possible preferential conditions which could apply to Morocco.

The Honourable Member refers to the existing preferences. These are laid out exhaustively in Protocol 1 to
the Council and Commission Decision on the conclusion of the EU-Morocco Association Agreement (1).

(1) OJ L 70, 18.3.2000.

(2002/C 147 E/044)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2724/01

by Niels Busk (ELDR) to the Commission

(5 October 2001)

Subject: Use of fish meal, fish pulp and fish silage

The great protein deficiency in the EU is currently covered by soya meal, where GMOs have been added to
the seed grain.