November 2013 /
No 7
Macroeconomics and Development
Introduction This paper revisits the debate on EuroMediterranean integration to reassess its observed and expected impact on the economic growth of the South and East Mediterranean countries (SEMCs). Since the 1990s, the SEMCs and the European Union (EU) have been engaged in a process of trade liberalisation under the Barcelona Agreements, which were meant to promote economic convergence between the two shores of the Mediterranean through the creation of a vast free trade area. As a first step, Euro-Med bilateral trade agreements put in place a gradual and asymmetrical dismantling of tariff barriers for SEMC industrial exports to the EU (goods that already enjoyed preferential access to European markets). The broadly accepted results of this process are somewhat mixed (Jarreau, 2011). Although the opening up of markets has helped to introduce macroeconomic discipline (mainly regarding inflation and budget deficits), it has not gone hand in hand with an upward climb of the SEMCs’ growth paths. Their virtually unchanged export structure, the high concentration and rigidity of their production apparatus are symptomatic of a structural weakness regarding their competitiveness.
Euro-Med Growth and Trade Integration: can we talk of a cost of the nonMediterranean? Emmanuel Comolet (comolete@afd.fr), Nicole Madariaga (madariagan@afd.fr) Mihoub Mezouaghi (mezouaghim@afd.fr) Economists at the Agence Française de DÊveloppement
The fragmentation of the South Mediterranean markets, continued trade protection of services and agricultural products, persistent economic rents, the size of the public sector, red tape and cumbersome regulations are all constraints to a virtuous Euro-Mediterranean integration that would drive economic growth. Would greater trade openness, chiefly through better resource allocation and a reduction in economic rents, be beneficial?