Brussels, 21/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday the European Commission and Syria finally concluded their negotiations (as we previously indicated) on an association agreement between the two parties (EUROPE yesterday p 5). The draft still has to be approved at a political level in Syria and by Union Member States and will then be signed. The ratification process will have to be completed by national and Syrian parliaments before it comes into force, a process that according to the European Parliament and partner countries is regrettably long. Implementation of the interim agreement will, however, allow certain trade provisions to be activated earlier, which will subsequently make up for some of the delays. The association agreement, signed for an unlimited period, with a 12 year period for getting over some of the barriers to trade (excluding agriculture but which will be offset accordingly). The association agreement will replace the global cooperation agreement in force since 1977.
Negotiations on this agreement often stalled on the difficulty experienced by Syrian companies to simultaneously tackle wide-scale internal reform programmes and competition from European counterparts. In Damascus, subsequent debates pitted supporters of greater economic opening-up with partisans of the status quo in a country that was closed to private initiative to the point that the initial support for economic restructuring was slowed down by the absence of credible financial institutions. The association agreement was negotiated in a way that focused on support for economic and administrative reforms. Syria has made a commitment through the agreement to break with its characteristic state directed policy. Brussels notes that the human rights situation in the country has not moved forward in a way that had been promised by the current president when he succeeded his father in 2000. The EU has expressed its concerns on several occasions with regard to certain individuals, civil society organisations and the Kurdish minority.
Via the association agreement Syria has also made a commitment to not having WMD (weapons of mass destruction) or contributing to their dissemination in the region. Damascus initially declared that such a commitment had to be taken at an international level and cover all countries in the region, including Israel, which is suspected of having nuclear weapons. The definition of the formal agreement by Syria is therefore constituting the ultimate obstacle to concluding the agreement, which was announced well before the summer. Negotiations stumbled on the definition of a specific clause and at the end of proceedings the debate took place between 25 of the Member States of the EU and Syria before finding an acceptable formula for all the different parliaments.
Based on other association agreement with partners in the Barcelona process, the agreement with Syria includes three chapters:
Policy: the agreement will make up the framework for "regular political dialogue" on developments affecting international politics, particularly in the region, as well as a consultative evaluation of the political situation in Syria and its neighbours. Provisions on respect for democratic principles and fundamental rights of human beings, as well as the fight against terrorism are also included.
Economic: the agreement includes the objective of setting up a free-trade zone between the EU and Syria. It focuses on trade in goods and services, rules on public procurement, intellectual property rights, cooperation in a large number of areas: customs, transport, tourism and the environment, as well as provisions for settling disputes in compliance with WTO rules. The European Commission affirms that the Euro-Syrian free trade zone constitutes a step towards the creation by 2010 of a much vaster Euro-Mediterranean zone.
Social and cultural: this area stretches from education and culture to the fight against criminality, racism, xenophobia, drugs and terrorism by way of the rule of law, legal and judicial cooperation, movement of persons, control and prevention of illegal immigration, the readmission of nations and non-nationals having illegally arrived on the territory from the territory of the other.
Financial aspects will be dealt with in a "strategic plan" already set up for 2002-06. The MEDA allocation for Syria for 2002-04 is EUR 93 million and there is more than 80 million for 2005-06.
The European Commission subsequently concludes the series of association agreements with countries around the Mediterranean and contributes to the development of Euro-Mediterranean relations. Syria is a member of the Barcelona Process even if it is not totally convinced and is blocking a range of different projects, particularly those to do with chapters on policy and security due to its fervent opposition to Israel.