Joint Proposal for a Council Decision on the Union position with regard to the adoption of a recommendation on the implementation of the EU-Morocco Action Plan implementing the advanced status (2013-2017)

Morocco and the European Union are bound by a Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreement that came into force in March 2000. On the basis of that agreement, the EU-Morocco European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) Action Plan was approved by both sides in July 2005 for a period of five years. Within this framework, EU-Morocco relations have developed and matured substantially. The adoption of the joint document on advanced status in October 2008 gave a further impetus to these relations and marked a significant deepening in the areas of political relations, security, economics, trade and various sectors, and in people-to-people contacts.

When the current ENP Action Plan expired in July 2010, it was deemed appropriate to negotiate and conclude a new Action Plan, based on the objectives and ambitions of the joint document on advanced status. The European External Action Service (EEAS), in close cooperation with the European Commission and EU Member States, has held exploratory talks with Morocco which have resulted in an agreement on the draft Action Plan, including the list of priority measures to be carried out under the Plan. At the last EU-Morocco Association Council on 23 April 2012 both sides noted that they were close to an agreement, which was then reached in November 2012.

The new EU-Morocco Action Plan implementing the advanced status (2013-2017) will be an essential point of reference that will guide bilateral relations with Morocco in the coming years and thus provide a road map for a deeper association between Morocco and the EU. The ENP will continue to act as a catalyst by providing a single policy framework, based inter alia on partnership, joint ownership, performance-driven differentiation and tailor-made assistance.

EUR-Lex: JOIN(2013)006: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=JOIN:2013:006:FIN

---