The bilateral track of the Barcelona Process is governed by a series of Association Agreements signed with the Mediterranean Partners.
Although every Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreement signed by the EU and its Mediterranean partners is agreed on a bilateral basis, there are certain common aspects to all of them: political dialogue, respect for human rights and democracy, establishment of WTO-compatible free trade over a transitional period of up to 12 years, provisions relating to intellectual property, services, public procurement, competition rules, state aids and monopolies, economic cooperation in a wide range of sectors, cooperation relating to social affairs and migration (including re-admission of illegal immigrants) and cultural cooperation.
To come into into force, the Agreements must be ratified by the European Parliament, the Parliaments of the 15 EU member states and the partner country. This long procedure explains why ratification sometimes takes several years.
For the implementation of Association Agreements two common institutions are created: the Association Council at ministerial level and the Association Committee at senior official level.
Since Cyprus, Malta and Turkey are candidates for EU membership, they benefit from a pre-accession strategy with separate funding arrangements.
See also:
- Euro-Mediterranean cooperation
- MEDA Programme
