EC/Israel Euro-Mediterranean association agreement

The Committee adopted the report by Mr Luigi CALIGARIS (UPE, I). It doing so, it recommended that Parliament give its assent (by simple majority) to the conclusion of the Association Agreement signed on 28 September 1995. This new agreement, which is global in nature, will result in a strengthening of relations between the EU and Israel. At a political level it is in line with those initiatives which seek to establish security in the Mediterranean region and to stabilise the external borders of the EU. The importance of the agreement, which is central to the new policy of Euro-Mediterranean partnership, also lies in its capacity for strengthening and improving politico-cultural relations between the EU and Israel at a time when the prospects for peace in the Middle East lends new significance to the Mediterranean dimension. In addition, from a political viewpoint the agreement also applies to the enlargement of the concept of free trade, the free movement of goods and capital and the removal of restrictions to free competition. It concerns the opening up of the supply markets of each of the two partners and provides for a number of areas of cooperation, such as the economy, culture, broadcasting and information technology, the social sector, industry, the environment, the control of drug trafficking, and so on. �