Mediterranean regionalism and the gobalization of agriculture since the GATT Uruguay Round

Abstract:

In this article, we propose to analyse the new context derived from these two parameters as far as Euro-Mediterranean relations are concerned. It is not a matter of explaining the GATT Agreement here, nor the reformed CAP of 1992, nor the renewed Community foreign policy for the Mediterranean basin. Nor it is a case of discussing the future perspectives for agriculture in the countries along the shores of the Mediterranean. Other studies (particularly those carried out by the FAO, OECD, World Bank and CIHEAM, included in the references) have already examined these issues in depth. Our intention here is limited to describing the breadth and the consequences for Mediterranean agricultural trade of the new framework that has been in force since 1995. We shall begin by commenting on the current situation of the Mediterranean economies as well as their trade with the EU.

Then we will present the principal parameters that define the future framework of agricultural relationships between the EU and the Mediterranean non-member countries (the agricultural agreement of the GATT and the new external framework for the Mediterranean). After that their possible impact on Euro-Mediterranean relations in general will be studied. Finally, we will discuss the limits of the Euro-Mediterranean approach and attempt to identify the main problems for the agriculture of third countries coming from the Euro-Mediterranean Economic Space.

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