Brussels, 10/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - After the Arab Spring, the EU must do more to promote democracy and stability in the neighbouring countries of the southern rim of the Mediterranean, through improved trade relations, with the focus on small businesses (SMEs), the European Parliament (EP) says.
In a resolution adopted in plenary session by 479 votes to 64, with 40 abstentions on Thursday 10 May, the EP called on the EU and its member states to redouble their efforts to support the Arab Spring countries on their path to democracy. “So far, the political response to the Arab Spring has been weak”, said rapporteur Niccolo Rinaldi (ALDE, Italy). He said that EU trade strategy should be focused on small businesses, which provide 30% of jobs in some countries and which are “crucial in dismantling the oligarchies as key players”.
The EP calls on the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to target investment at small and medium-sized firms and asks the European Investment Bank (EIB) to provide micro-credits and counter-guarantee schemes for SMEs. It also wants incentives to register the high number of black market businesses, visa facilitation measures for business people and support for trade diversification. MEPs suggest that member states should set up Euromed Erasmus and Da Vinci programmes for visiting students and EU Chambers of Commerce in partner countries.
More generally, the Parliament hopes the momentum created by the Arab Spring can spur progress towards a Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area. During the debate preceding the vote, Rinaldi sought to reassure MEPs concerned about the potential impact on EU farmers of free trade, pointing to the EU's significant trade surplus in agriculture with these countries and the benefits to EU consumers of opening up our markets.
Regional integration and South-South trade, for example by means of the Agadir Accord, a prelude to the hoped-for Euro-Mediterranean free-trade area, which has, since 2004, linked Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia and Palestine, are also to be encouraged, MEPs say.
In a press release, shadow rapporteur Cristiana Muscardini (EPP, Italy) says that measures must be put in place for micro-enterprises and SMEs in North Africa, with support coming from Community financial institutions. “This can be put in place, for example, through the development of fairs able to link the micro- and small enterprises in the Mediterranean with European ones”, she argued.
EP President Martin Schulz (S&D, Germany) welcomed a resolution which “stands as proof of the EP's coherence and genuine commitment in deepening cooperation between the two shores of the Mediterranean”. “The end goal remains the creation of a functioning and inclusive Euro-Med free-trade area”, he went on to say. (EH/transl.rt)