The social impact of Euro-Mediterranean free trade areas: a first approach with special reference to the case of Morocco

Abstract:

Extensive trade liberalization - mainly through the dismantling of all tariffs on European manufactured products - will be the most direct and concrete effect of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership for Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs). This essay first undertakes an analytical review of the social impact of the creation of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Areas (EMFTAs), taking into account their effects on employment, income (wages and otherwise), prices of consumer goods, state social expenditure and other economic variables. There follows a brief case study of the magnitude of the EMFTAs' social impact on Morocco. Finally, the study seeks to identify which national policies and which accompanying measures within the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership could be used to 'mitigate the negative social consequences which may result' from the EMFTAs and hence strengthen their social and political sustainability.