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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 - 31 May 2000 Issue No. 483 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 - 31 May 2000 Issue No. 483
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Cabinet confusion over EU-partnership
By Dina Ezzat and Niveen WahishToday in Lisbon, the foreign ministers of the countries in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership are scheduled to meet to review progress on the implementation of the Barcelona Process. Central to this process is the economic track for which individual Mediterranean states, including Egypt, have signed or are in the process of negotiating agreements with the EU to allow for the establishment of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area by the year 2010.
In the Portuguese capital, EU representatives will probably ask Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa to explain why Egypt is stalling the signing of the partnership agreement which was reached in June 1999 after five years of intensive negotiations. Moussa's task will not be easy.
A few weeks ago in Cairo, Prime Minister Atef Ebeid told European Commissioner for External Affairs Chris Patten that Egypt has no intention of reopening negotiations, but would like to have additional clarifications on a few points in the final text.
Sources close to the EU Commission told Al-Ahram Weekly that the EU is a little perplexed over the fact that the Egyptian government requires clarifications to a text that it negotiated over a period of five years. These sources also said that since the Ebeid-Patten talks in April the EU has not received an official request from the Egyptian government for clarifications of the text.
And, while in Lisbon, Moussa will also probably be expected to explain to the Europeans a recent media campaign that was clearly launched by the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade to criticise the text of the agreement as not being entirely in the interests of Egypt's industrial sector and its foreign trade. Notably, both of these ministries had representatives on the Egyptian team negotiating the partnership.
Leaks to the press from the Ministry of Industry suggested that the lists of items for which trade is to be liberalised puts undue pressure on Egyptian industries. Key officials in the Ministry of Industry who participated in negotiating this text were unavailable in their offices to comment on their reported change of heart regarding the lists they had approved. Sources close to the ministry say that following the most recent cabinet shuffle last October, which brought in a new minister of industry, who shuffled his own senior aides, many of the officials involved in agreement negotiations are no longer with the ministry.
Moreover, the Ministry of Industry leaked its viewpoint that the modernisation of some 100 Egyptian factories requires that $12.5 billion should be allocated to its coffers without conditions. This suggestion contradicts the approval given by the former minister of industry for obtaining aid to modernise Egyptian industry, but under the terms agreed to by Egypt and the EU. A programme, including a financial package, for modernising Egyptian industry had in fact been approved by parliament. Thus, to change this programme the government would be required to return to the legislative body.
For its part, the Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade leaked information suggesting that the terms of this agreement are not entirely compatible with the terms of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Officials in the ministry would not comment on the leaks. Nor would they elaborate on their alleged concerns about this compatibility in light of the fact that the WTO is required to review the agreement once it is signed.
In the view of officials at the Ministry of Economy, any official comments on the partnership agreement should be made only by Assistant Foreign Minister Gamal Bayoumi, since according to these officials, "It was Bayoumi who was the negotiator [of the partnership]."
Bayoumi, in turn, says that he was only the coordinator for the Egyptian negotiating team which was formed in accordance with a prime ministerial decree in 1995. The team was made up of one representative from each of the 20 concerned ministries, along with a representative of the governor of the Central Bank and four representatives from the key industry federations.
In spite of broad participation by government and private sectors, neither Bayoumi nor the Foreign Ministry are abrogating responsibility for the text that was scheduled to be examined yesterday in a cabinet meeting that was expected to focus on the future of the Egyptian economy.
As far as the Foreign Ministry is concerned, the prime minister's position is that the text will not be re-negotiated. Moreover, since the new government was sworn in last October, the Foreign Ministry has not received any queries from either the Ministry of Industry or the Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade regarding the text of the agreement.
"I think that the new senior officials in the various government branches needed a few more weeks to carefully examine the text that they are not necessarily familiar with. It is only fair," commented Bayoumi.
So, it is not an intra-governmental dispute, as such, that seems to be delaying the partnership, "It is rather that the cabinet reshuffle has meant that there are new officials in charge and they have a right to know what exactly it is they will be implementing," Bayoumi suggested.
Egypt and the EU signed their first agreement, the Cooperation Agreement in 1977. In 1993, the EU proposed to update all its trade agreements with Mediterranean countries.
So far the EU has signed agreements with Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Palestine and Israel. However, changes are currently being negotiated with these countries to adjust the protocols of the rules of origin of products, to make them compatible with the new rules that the EU agreed to with its other partners. Negotiations for partnerships are under way with Syria, Algeria and Lebanon.
"Egypt is missing a great deal by dragging behind," commented a high ranking Foreign Ministry official.
Around 40 per cent of Egyptian trade goes to EU countries. Egypt also receives approximately one third of the official development assistance granted by the EU to Mediterranean countries. It would be thought to be in Egypt's interests to sign the agreement. "Nobody claims that implementation will be problem-free, but this is the nature of agreements. We cannot miss [the chance to conclude such an agreement] it because we are afraid of it," commented a senior cabinet official. He added, "This said, we have taken enough precautions to secure our interests."
