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EU/Morocco Euro-Mediterranean Aviation Agreement

2006/0048(NLE)

The Committee on Transport and Tourism adopted the report by Dominique RIQUET (ALDE, FR) on the draft Council Decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the Union, of the Euro-Mediterranean Aviation Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Kingdom of Morocco, of the other.

The committee recommended that Parliament give its consent to the conclusion of the agreement.

Negotiations began in May 2005 and the agreement was signed on 12 December 2006 on the condition that it would be concluded at a later date. Parliament gave its consent for the conclusion of the agreement on 12 December 2007.

The ratification process was completed by all the Member States, with the exception of Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia, in 2014

On 19 February 20149, the Commission presented an amended proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of the Agreement, in order to take account of the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon and the fact that Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania had become EU Member States in the meantime. Following its revision, the draft decision includes the legal modifications required by the ECJ case law established in its Judgment of 28 April 2015.

Parliament is once again being consulted for its approval on the draft decision to conclude the Agreement on behalf of the Union.

As the explanatory memorandum accompanying the draft recommendation pointed out, the Agreement, applied provisionally since it was signed on 12 December 2006, created new development opportunities for Moroccan and EU companies by doing away with capacity, nationality, frequency or route restrictions.

Since 2006, the opening up of the markets has brought some huge benefits:

  • passenger traffic between the EU and Morocco has more than doubled, reaching 12 million passengers per year and an increase of 109% since 2005;
  • the services offered and the number of destinations served also significantly increased;
  • the average price of the ticket has decreased by about 60%.