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Recent developments
Almost one year after entry into force of the EU-Lebanon
Interim Agreement, Lebanese and the EU ministers came
together in Brussels on 24 February 2004 for the 3rd
Co-operation Council, under the chairmanship of the Irish
Presidency. It was the first such meeting since the
signature of the Association Agreement on 17 June 2002.
Lebanon’s economy and trade minister Marwan Hamadeh set
the seal on stepping up the bilateral relationship by
reaffirming in the presence of the Irish and Netherlands
foreign ministers and External Relations Commissioner
Patten his country’s full commitment to the Interim
Agreement, to the Barcelona Process, to deepening
Lebanon’s integration with the EU, and to advancing on
promised Paris II economic reforms. The Presidency
reassured Lebanon in its EU Statement
delivered at the meeting that enlargement to 25 members
would have no negative consequences for its partner, that
it opened new markets for Lebanon, and that Lebanon was to
be brought into the European Neighbourhood Policy during
2004, as the Association Agreement neared full
ratification. Previous Co-operation Council meetings had
been held in 1980 and 1995.
The entry into force of the EU-Lebanon
Interim Agreement on trade and
commercial issues
on 1 March 2003 formally triggered the start of the 12
year transition period to free trade, one of the
fundamental planks to the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.
Ratification of the
EU-Lebanon Association Agreement
is proceeding steadily. First to vote on the treaty was
the Lebanese Parliament on 2 December 2002.
The European Parliament
followed suite on 15 January 2003 with a vote in favour of
the Agreement. It also passed an accompanying Resolution
on political relations between the Union and Lebanon.
To date, five Member States have ratified the
Association Agreement.
The signing of the two agreements, as well as the exchange
of letters on co-operation in counter-terrorism, marks a
significant advance in relations between the EU and
Lebanon. Chris Patten, Commissioner for External
Relations, visited Lebanon in February 2003 for
discussions on the Middle East situation and Iraq, as well
as practical aspects of applying the Association
Agreement, economic reforms in Lebanon following the Paris
II donor conference, Palestinian refugees, and the
situation prevailing along the southern border with
Israel.
The first formal contacts on implementation issues of the
Agreement took place on 24-25 November 2003 during the 2nd
Economic Dialogue between the Commission and Lebanon’s
Minister Hamadeh.
The signature of the accord with Lebanon means that with
eight of the nine non-candidate members of the
Euro-Mediterranean Partnership now linked to the Union by
an Association Agreement, the objectives set out in the
1995 Barcelona Conference are almost achieved. The two
parties opted for a rapid start to the 12 year transition
period leading to free trade. With the entry into force of
the Interim Agreement in March 2003 the concessions on
trade in Lebanese agricultural and processed agricultural
exports immediate effect. Tariff reductions on EU exports
to Lebanon will begin in March 2008.
In response to enlargement in May 2004, the European
Commission adopted the “Wider Europe – Neighbourhood: A
New Framework for Relations with our Eastern and Southern
Neighbours” Communication of 11 March 2003 (European
Neighbourhood Policy), setting out a new framework for
relations with the Southern Mediterranean, Russia and the
Western Newly Independent States (NIS) – countries who do
not currently have a perspective of membership but who
will soon find themselves sharing a border with the Union.
The Communication proposes that, over the coming decade,
the EU should aim to work in partnership to develop a zone
of prosperity and a friendly neighbourhood – a ‘ring of
friends’ - with whom the EU enjoys close, peaceful and
co-operative relations. The objectives for the future new
Neighbourhood Instrument include inter alia: promoting
sustainable economic and social development in the border
area; working together to address common challenges, in
fields such as environment, public health, and the
prevention of and fight against organised crime; ensuring
efficient and secure borders and promoting local,
“people-to-people” type actions.
While offering the same opportunities and requiring the
same standards from each of the neighbouring countries,
the approach applied for each partner country will be both
different and progressive. Prime Minister Hariri signalled
in a letter to President Prodi his encouragement and firm
support for participation in the European Neighbourhood
initiative.
Political Situation
Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who won convincingly in the
September 2000 parliamentary elections and headed a
government with economic reform a high priority, emerged
from a government reshuffle in April 2003 with a new
council of ministers, faced with the continued challenge
of revitalising the economy and reducing the crippling
public debt. The economic reform agenda has been affected
by the weakness of political consensus on issues of
deregulation, privatisation and tax reform. The successful
outcome of the Paris II donor conference in November 2002,
aimed at restructuring the public debt at lower interest
rates, resulted in €4.4 billion in loan, loan guarantee
and grant pledges. This provided an initial boost to
Lebanon’s economic prospects, and significantly lowered
domestic interest rates and loan maturity. Domestic banks
responded with their own contribution to easing the debt
burden, which by December 2003 had reached some €26
billion.
Confessionalism is central to Lebanon’s political system,
with a careful balance maintained between the 18 different
sectarian groups in government, parliament and in the
civil administration. The 1989 Ta’if Accord ending the 15
year civil war calls for a Christian president, Sunni
prime minister, and Shia speaker of the parliament. It
sets equal numbers of Christians and Muslims in the 128
seat assembly, though Muslims are now thought to number
55% of the total estimated population of four millions.
Parliamentary elections since the end of the civil war
(1992, 1996, 2000, the next in 2005) have been relatively
free of violence and intimidation, and have helped in the
process of restoration of Lebanon’s democratic foundation.
The domestic political agenda will be driven by the run-up
to presidential elections in late 2004.
Internal politics are strongly influenced by Syria,
including choice of electoral candidates. Lebanon
maintains a close relationship with Damascus, and the
Syrian leadership is consulted on all major issues. The
1989 Ta’if Accord provided for Syrian troop withdrawal,
but this has yet to be completed.
A milestone in Lebanon’s recovery after the civil war was
the withdrawal of Israeli forces from South Lebanon in May
2000, the surrender of the Israeli-backed South Lebanon
Army, and the UN’s ruling that UN SC Resolution 425 had
been implemented. Lebanon rejects the UN’s demarcation
line as the international frontier with Israel. The
reintegration of the former occupied zone is slowly under
way, with state services gradually returning after an
absence of nearly 20 years. The government received
regular EU and international appeals to deploy its army to
the border. UNIFIL peace-monitoring troops have been
reduced in numbers, from its peak of 5,800 in 2000 to
2,000 at January 2004.
Lebanon’s international outlook is coloured by the tense
relationship with Israel and the absence of peace in the
Middle East. The Shia Muslim militant group Hizbullah is
engaged in a simmering conflict with Israel along the
border area, concentrated mainly at the Israeli-occupied
Shebaa farms, which cover 25 square kilometres of the
Golan foothills. While Lebanon argues that the farms are
in Lebanese territory, the UN regards the land as Syrian.
Hizbullah won ten parliamentary seats in the 2000
elections.
An already fragile situation in South Lebanon became
exposed to a new dispute with Israel, over water. The
inauguration of the Wazzani Springs pump station on the
Hasbani river a few kilometres from the frontier in
October 2002 provoked strong Israeli objections, and led
to mediation efforts from the EU, US and UN. The
Commission conducted a technical study of water resources
in the Hasbani river basin as a contribution to an
eventual mediation, but there has not yet been any
concrete move to resolve water-sharing issues between the
two countries.
A priority issue in Lebanon is the resettlement of 387,000
UNRWA-registered Palestinian refugees, most of whom fled
to Lebanon as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israel war. Half
of Palestinian refugees are housed in twelve camps with
poor living conditions and are barred from most forms of
employment and economic activity. The EU called on Lebanon
at the February 2004 Co-operation Council to help improve
the humanitarian conditions facing the refugees. UNWRA
runs schools, medical care and shelter rehabilitation in
the camps. The EU position is that pending political
settlement to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, in which
the future of the refugees has always been a key issue,
Palestinian refugees have the right of return under
international law.
Lebanon has signed up to several international agreements
on human and civil rights. It acceded in 1997 to the
International Covenant on the rights of women, but has
refrained from signing the Agreement against torture.
Lebanon’s diverse population has generally enjoyed a
tradition of tolerance, press freedom and individual
rights. Criticism of Syria’s influence in Lebanon has
become more pronounced, leading to a crackdown during 2002
against opposition media. Recent human rights issues of
concern to the EU have been the arrest of anti-Syrian
demonstrators in Beirut in August 2001, the execution of
three convicted persons in January 2004 (despite personal
appeals from the Irish Presidency and President Prodi),
and lengthy prison sentences on journalists. In the second
half of 2002, closure of an independent television
station, MTV was the subject of an EU démarche in Beirut.
The European Parliament drew attention to the situation
regarding human rights and democracy in the Resolution
adopted on 16 January 2003.
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EU Responses to:
·
South Lebanon
The EU welcomed the withdrawal of Israeli forces from
South Lebanon in May 2002 and the subsequent UN’s
ruling that UN Security Council Resolution 425 had
been implemented. Since then, the EU has regularly
called upon the Lebanese authorities to assume full
responsibility for the security of south Lebanon, up
to the border. It has also called on all parties to
the dispute to refrain from acts which lead to
violence and especially to civilian and military
casualties. The EU welcomed the German-brokered
exchange of prisoners between Israel and Hizbullah in
January 2004.
In order to help diffuse the water dispute between
Lebanon and Israel, the European Commission carried
out a technical hydrological study of the Hasbani
River basin during 2003 in order to assess the
arguments concerning planned use for water extracted
from the Hasbani river. The EU’s Special
Representative for the Middle East has raised the
matter in the region.
·
Palestinian Refugees
The EU has urged Lebanon to assist in improving the
humanitarian conditions of the refugees in the camps,
while affirming its support for the principle of right
of return. The Lebanese authorities reacted vocally to
the European Parliament resolution of October 2003
calling on Arab countries to consider as a possibility
the integration of the refugees. The EU’s position
endorses UN Security Council Resolution 194 on right
of return, pending an agreed, fair and just political
settlement of the Arab-Israel dispute. It also
recognises the particular difficulties faced by
Lebanon in hosting the refugees.
Pending a political solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Commission
implements humanitarian and relief programmes with
Non-Governmental Organisations and UNRWA to improve
the economic, social and sanitary conditions of the
Palestinian refugees in the camps in Lebanon, and
throughout the region.
·
Human Rights violations
Human Rights and fundamental freedoms form an integral
and essential part of the framework governing
relations between the European Union and its
Mediterranean partners, both within the regional
context of the Barcelona process/Euro-Mediterranean
partnership, and through the bilateral Association
Agreements concluded or under negotiation with all the
Mediterranean partner countries.
With this in mind, the European Initiative for
Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) was established in
2001, following the MEDA Democracy Programme. These
programmes mainly focus on supporting measures that
promote democracy, the rule of law, civil and
socio-economic rights and the protection of vulnerable
individuals. Co-operation between the European Union
and Lebanon in this field stresses the importance of
the role of women in the political, economic and
social context. A Commission team visited Lebanon in
March 2004 to discuss preparations for a dialogue on
human rights issues leading to an agreed joint action
plan to be supported by the EU.
For a list of projects, please visit the website of
the European Commission delegation in Lebanon:
·
http://www.dellbn.cec.eu.int/english/democratie.htm
·
Terrorism
A list of terror organisations was issued by the EU in
December 2001 as part of measures taken by the Council
in combating terrorism, supplementing restrictive
measures against individuals and organisations set out
in UN SC Resolution 1373. The EU list includes several
individuals of Lebanese origin, but makes no reference
to Hizbullah. The Lebanese Government has proclaimed
its readiness to work with the EU in fighting
terrorism, in line with its commitments under the
exchange of letters with the EU on co-operation on
counter-terrorism. Lebanon nonetheless underlines the
legitimacy of resistance to foreign occupation. |
Economic situation
Faced with its worst economic crisis since the end of the
civil war in 1990, the government embarked on a number of
reforms to help cope with the large budget deficit and a
crippling public debt (€33 billion, or 180% of GDP at end
2003 compared to 152% in 2001). Some 52% of the debt is
held in local currency. Tax reforms included the
introduction of VAT in January 2002, which has been judged
a success, surpassing expectations on revenue and
implementation. Lebanon’s economic reform measures to deal
with the crisis convinced the Paris II donors to provide
substantial political and financial backing, mainly from
Arab countries, France, Italy and Belgium. The reforms
included fiscal measures to bring the budget deficit down
to 8.4% of GDP in 2003 (15.6% in 2002), privatisation of
telecommunications, electricity and other state assets
(expected to yield €5 billion by end 2004), and improved
debt management to reduce debt service, which presently
account for 80% of state revenue. The European Commission
urged Lebanon to proceed further with its reforms, and to
seek IMF backing for its programmes. The Lebanese
delegation at the second Economic Dialogue in Brussels on
24 November 2003 outlined some of the difficulties leading
to delay in the Paris II measures, mainly in
privatisation, and confirmed that around 80% of pledges
had been received.
There has also been slippage on fiscal targets. The budget
deficit was 38% of expenditure for the first nine months
of 2003, compared to 40% the year before, but above the
2003 target, which had assumed revenue earnings from
privatisation. Faced with uncertainty over the future of
privatisation policy, the Treasury presented two sets of
figures on spending and revenue in its 2004 budget, one
with privatisation, and one without. Debt servicing alone,
at €2.6 billion in 2004, will account for 44% of the
budget. The budget deficit agreed for 2004 is set at 32%
of spending, compared to the 25% promised at Paris II.
The 2003 Iraq war brought mixed results for Lebanon. There
have been promising signs of re-established trading ties
with Baghdad; and Arab tourism and construction which
temporarily eased back during the war, soon resumed steady
growth. Foreign reserves rose 79% to €12 billion in
October 2003.
EU-Lebanon trade
relations
Since 1 March 2003, trade arrangements between the EU and
Lebanon are governed by the Interim Agreement. As a result
of the Agreement, most Lebanese products have duty free
access to EU markets with duty free quotas applied to a
limited number of agricultural products. In 2015, all
Lebanese tariffs on EU industrial goods will be removed.
The balance of trade is heavily in favour of the EU,
Lebanon’s main trading partner. Lebanon ranks number 44 as
an EU export destination and number 109 for EU’s imports.
In 2002, the EU was the leading source of imports in
Lebanon, with 43,5 % of Lebanese imports purchased from EU
Member States, particularly from Italy, Germany and
France. Furthermore, the EU was Lebanon’s second importer
after Arab states. Exports and imports between Lebanon and
the EU have gradually decreased: a reduction of 10% in the
share of exports and 6% in the share of imports since
1996. This trend has continued during the first quarter of
2003.
Figure 1: Lebanon’s
foreign trade from 1996 to 2002
(Source: Ministry of Economy and Trade)
It is too soon to analyse the effects of tariff
dismantlement in the Interim Agreement on Lebanese exports
to the European Community and the possible changes to
bilateral trade.
Lebanon also agreed bilateral trade accords with several
Euro-Mediterranean partners, in line with the Barcelona
Declaration objectives to expand South-South trade, and in
February 2004 confirmed its intention to join the Agadir
free trade group (founder members Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia
and Morocco).
·
further details on
EU-Lebanon trade relations
Technical and Financial
Co-operation
European Commission
approves new €50 million aid package for 2005-2006
The European Commission agreed on 2 April 2004 to a new
package of financial assistance in the form of €50 million
in grants for Lebanon covering the years 2005 and 2006,
provided from the MEDA fund for technical co-operation
with Euro-Mediterranean partners. Priorities established
in consultation with the Lebanese authorities in the new
National Indicative Programme are to be:
·
Support for implementation of the Association Agreement
and for European Neighbourhood Policy initiatives, rule of
law, judicial co-operation, justice and home affairs
issues and human rights and democracy
·
Support for the knowledge economy, in the areas of
vocational training, a continuation of the Tempus
programme for higher education, particularly between
Lebanese and EU universities, and for scientific
co-operation, permitting Lebanese researchers to access EU
research programmes
·
Strengthening the competitiveness of the private sector,
including export promotion, agricultural exports, and
business support schemes
·
Water reform and environment, to encourage reforms in
water sector administration, and in the provision of waste
and water treatment at municipal level.
|
PRIORITY |
INDICATIVE ALLOCATIONS
(in € Million) |
|
2005 |
2006 |
|
European Neighbourhood Policy /support to Association
Agreement |
10 |
|
|
Support for Knowledge Economy |
6 |
|
|
Strengthening competitiveness of private sector |
18 |
|
|
Water reform and environment |
|
16 |
|
TOTAL 50 €M |
34 |
16 |
A separate allocation has been made to tackle the problem
of poverty and poor social and living conditions faced by
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, and elsewhere in the
region.
The Country Strategy Paper 2002-2006
adopted by the EU for Lebanon in December 2001 sets out EU
perspectives for its objectives, policy response and the
strategic framework for co-operation with Lebanon.
Since 1978 Lebanon has benefited from some €1,800 million
in combined EU assistance: €533 million in EIB loans, €332
million in EC grants (from the four Protocols, MEDA I, and
other budget lines), and more than €900 million from
Member States (mainly, Italy 50%, France 32%, Germany
14%).
Technical and financial cooperation with Lebanon is, since
1995, governed by the MEDA programme (http://europa.eu.int/comm/europeaid/projects/med/fw_medin_en.htm),
the principal financial instrument of the EU for the
implementation of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. The
programme may apply to States, their local and regional
authorities as well as their civil society. It has both a
bilateral and regional dimension.
Bilateral cooperation is based on the Euro-Med Association
Agreement, accompanied by a substantial EU financial
support for economic transition in Lebanon and for the
social and economic consequences of this reform process.
The general aim of the regional co-operation aspect is to
promote closer integration between (see also:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/europeaid/projects/med/regional_en.htm)
the 27 partners, the 15 and the 12, but also between the
12 themselves. Regional MEDA programmes complement and
reinforce bilateral programmes and cover all three baskets
of the Barcelona Process.
Under the 1995-2000 MEDA I Programme,
Lebanon received
grant commitments totalling €166 million. In addition,
Lebanon has received some €80 million in grants as
humanitarian assistance, for rehabilitation actions,
co-financing with NGOs, combating illicit drugs, gender
issues, and for environment actions.
EU-funded projects provided within MEDA I are:
Rehabilitation of the Public Administration (€38
million), Investment Planning Programme (€21
million, plus €4 million from the Protocols), the
Industrial Modernisation Programme (€11 million),
the Structural Adjustment Facility (€50
million), €25 million for the creation of a Social
and Economic Development Fund, and €21 million
interest subsidy grant for an EIB loan for an
urban wastewater programme. The second
tranche of the Structural adjustment facility
(€50 million) is to be paid in the first quarter of
2003 following a review of compliance on the grant’s
conditions.
The MEDA II Programme continues the focus on
economic reforms, principally in supporting the
implementation of the Association Agreement, on social and
poverty alleviation issues, environmental protection,
human rights and civil society, and human resource
development. A Memorandum on the National Indicative
Programme (NIP) 2002-2004 was signed by the European
Commission and Lebanon on 4 March 2002 for a €80 million
package of support for trade reforms/implementation of the
Association Agreement; for social and rural integrated
rural development, targeted principally at farmers and
small scale agro-industry; for environmental programmes,
and for higher education (Tempus). Minor modifications to
the NIP are proposed for 2003. These are set out below:
|
National Indicative Programme |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
Support for implementation of Association Agreement /
Trade Reform:
- Implementation of the Association Agreement
- Support for standards and certification
- Support to private sector SMEs
- Promotion of human rights & civil society |
€12 mill |
€15 mill
€17 mill
€ 1 mill |
|
|
Integrated Rural Development Programme |
|
€ 10 mill |
|
|
Tempus Higher Education Programme |
|
€ 3 mill |
|
|
Environmental Protection Programme (including EIB
interest subsidy) |
|
|
€22 mill |
|
TOTAL €80 million |
€12 mill |
€46 mill |
€22 mill |
2003 provided the bulk of MEDA assistance, with five new
programmes agreed by the EU for Lebanon (see table
above).
Full details are provided in
MEDA funding in Lebanon.
The Euro-Med Association
Agreement
Signed on 17 June 2002, the Association Agreement has been
ratified by the Lebanese and European Parliaments.
Ratification by Member States is under way. Until this is
completed, the trade and trade-related components of the
Association Agreement are put into effect by the Interim
Agreement, which entered into force on 1 March 2003,
marking the start of the 12 year transition to free trade.
The Euro-Med Association Agreement is a key component of
the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/euromed/index.htm)
– the EU’s proximity policy towards the Mediterranean
region, launched at the 1995 Barcelona Conference between
the European Union and it’s 12 Mediterranean Partners:
Lebanon, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Israel, Jordan,
the Palestinian Authority, Syria; Turkey, Cyprus and
Malta.
Libya currently has observer status at certain meetings.
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Main principles of
the Barcelona Declaration
·
Establish a common Euro-Mediterranean area of
peace and stability based on fundamental
principles including respect for human rights and
democracy (political and security partnership).
·
Create an area of shared prosperity through the
progressive establishment of a free-trade area
between the EU and its Partners and among the
Mediterranean Partners themselves (economic and
financial partnership).
·
Develop human resources; promote understanding
between cultures and rapprochement of the peoples in
the Euro-Mediterranean region as well as to
develop free and flourishing civil societies
(social, cultural and human partnership).
|
What the Association Agreement contains
-
Political dialogue, human rights.
The Agreement formalises political contacts between
Lebanon and the Union at all levels, from officials to
government ministers. It binds Lebanon to respect for
the principles of human rights and democracy.
·
Agriculture.
For Lebanon, it offers important concessions in
agricultural exports to the EU. The Union has adopted a
liberal trade approach towards Lebanon on agricultural
goods. It agreed to full liberalisation (no duty, no
quota) for all Lebanese agricultural products, with a list
of exceptions covering sensitive areas of EU domestic
agriculture. This list (for the main part: olives, olive
oil, table grapes, wine, potatoes, pears, apples, garlic,
tomatoes) sets out individual zero duty tariff quotas for
each product group, with an annual increase. These
concessions will be applied as soon as the Agreement comes
into force. For the EU, Lebanon has granted a range of
reciprocal concessions in the form of tariff reductions.
These are particularly important where high tariffs
(generally, from 35% to 70%) are currently applied. The EU
will thus gain from lower duties on such items as meat,
milk, eggs, cheese, potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, various
vegetables and fruits, and quality wine. The tariff
reductions will take place five years after entry into
force of the Agreement. The situation will be reviewed
five years after entry into force of the Agreement.
·
Processed agricultural products.
Each side is to make significant reductions in duties. EU
is to remove duties completely and immediately, on entry
into force of the Agreement, on a wide range of food and
other processed farm products from Lebanon. It has
maintained the agricultural element only on a restricted
list of goods (including buttermilk, cream yoghurt, sweet
corn, margarine, fructose, some malt, flour and cocoa
products; pasta; tapioca; ice cream, certain alcohols).
Lebanon is to remove duties completely on some 120 product
groups from EU, and to make 30% tariff cuts to some 100
product groups (such as yoghurt, margarine, chewing gum,
sweets, cocoa, chocolate, biscuits, sweet corn, certain
potato products, ice cream, mineral water, beer). Tariffs
on most EU cheeses are to be reduced to 20%. These tariff
reductions are to be phased gradually, from year six to
year 12 of the transition period, after entry into force
of the Agreement (as for industrial products).
·
Free trade in industrial products.
While EU markets have been duty and quota free to Lebanese
industrial products since the 1978 Co-operation Agreement,
the new Agreement will see a gradual reduction in Lebanese
tariffs on EU industrial products, over a twelve year
period, beginning immediately on entry into force of the
Agreement, with a five year standstill. Thus, tariffs will
be reduced from years six to twelve, when they will all be
zero. At this point, free trade will exist in industrial
products.
·
Trade legislation.
The Agreement contains commitments on the adoption of
modern international-standard economic legislation on
competition (five years after entry into force),
intellectual property protection, on anti-dumping and
anti-subsidy, and on public procurement. It requires the
two sides to begin discussions on improved market access
arrangements for services one year after entry into force.
·
Rules of origin and regional cumulation.
The Agreement makes it possible for Lebanon’s trade
partners to share production and to market
jointly-produced goods in the EU while maintaining
preferential access, according to specific rules agreed by
the two sides. The Agreement grants Lebanon exemption from
these rules for eleven products.
·
Economic and sector co-operation.
The EU undertakes to assist Lebanon in various forms of
co-operation to implement the Agreement, and to offset the
short-term effects of economic restructuring. This may
involve modernising the customs authority, competition
legislation, trade enhancement, strengthening the trade
administration needed to implement the Agreement, and to
prepare for WTO accession, for improvement to intellectual
property agencies, and capacity-building in the area of
standards and norms.
·
The Agreement contains commitments on judicial
co-operation and respect for the rule of law, and requires
parties to respect international rules on money
laundering, on combating organised crime and illicit
drugs, and on migration and re-admission issues (for
Lebanese and third country nationals). The Agreement does
not include co-operation on counter-terrorism. This
subject is covered by a separate exchange of letters
between Lebanon and the EU, which makes reference to the
context of the Agreement, and which enters into force at
the same time as the Agreement.
Basic Data
|
Official title |
Republic of Lebanon |
|
Population |
4.0 million (estimate) |
|
Surface |
10,452 km2 |
|
Unemployment |
8.5% (1997) |
|
GDP annual growth |
2% in 2002, est. 2% in 2003 |
|
Currency |
1800 Leb. pounds = one euro
(3/2004) |
|
Foreign reserves |
€12.4 billion (11/2003) |
|
Trade deficit |
€ 4589 million (2003) |
|
GDP per capita |
€5,000 (est. 2002) |
|
Head of State |
President Emile LAHOUD |
|
Head of Government |
Prime Minister Rafik HARIRI |
See also:
·
Co-operation Agreement between the
European Economic Community and the Lebanese Republic
(Official journal n° L 267 of 27/09/1978)
·
European Commission delegation in
Lebanon |
