Individual State to State Level

France

In the EU, Lebanon's strongest political relationship is with France. This is due to the following factors:

•  Lebanon is a former French colony. In fact French is widely spoken in Lebanon as a second language and French culture and education methods are still present in Lebanese Education and Art.

•  There is a sizable Lebanese ex-patriate community living in France. This community have kept the relationship between the two countries at a senior level throughout the years.

•  Lebanon's biggest import partner is France. Approximately 13% of all of Lebanon's imports originate from there.   

•  France has served as an important diplomatic point for Lebanon, especially during the years of the civil war when relations between Lebanon and the US were at an all time low.

Lebanon's relationship with other EU member states is also entering new horizons. One of the noted countries is Ireland. Lebanon has been a top export destination for Ireland's agriculture (especially meat) exports to the Middle East. However recently the relationship between the two countries has entered a new phase. This is due to Ireland being the first country between all the member states in the EU to ratify the Association Agreement between Lebanon and the EU. As a result of this agreement no tariffs are imposed on the vast majority of Lebanese goods entering the EU single market.

Lebanon also a strong economic relationship with Germany and Italy which are major exporters to the Lebanese market, especially for industrial machinery and products.

Entity Level

The EU has been involved in Lebanon's dispute with Israel, as well as the recent UN resolution, calling for the removal of Syrian soldiers and other armed groups from Lebanon. A number of EU countries (Ireland, Finland, Italy and France) have been long term members of the United Nations peace keeping force on the Lebanese - Israeli border. Furthermore the EU has also intervened on a number of occasions as a mediator to reduce tension between Israel and the Hezbollah forces. Most recent example includes the dispute between Israel and Lebanon over the water rights of the Hasbani River basin in 2002 during which the EU offered to dispatch a technical team to study the matter. Current agreements between the EU and Lebanon are:

Interim Agreement

Since March 1st 2003, the Interim Agreement started to govern the trade agreement between Lebanon and the EU. According to the EU 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 Euro-Med Association Agreement

According to the EU the key component of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership – 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.

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).

  This agreement has been approved by the Lebanese Parliament on 2 December 2002. The European Parliament also approved the agreement on 15 January 2003. This agreement has not come into force yet as ratification from 4 EU member states is still remaining. It is expected that ratification will be provided by the remaining states and that the agreement will come into force during the first half of 2005.   Until ratification is completed, the trade and trade-related components of the Association Agreement are put into effect by the Interim Agreement.

The Interim agreement will be providing the Lebanese agriculture producers with a new buoyant market in the form of the 25 member states. This will be specially important for the welfare of Lebanon's less developed regions (such as the Biqa valley and southern Lebanon) as they are mostly dependent on the agriculture sector for their livelihood. The agreement with Lebanon also offers advantages to the EU such as entry into a growing market which has free trade agreements with the GCC and is also a major player in the Syrian economy. The agreement will also strengthen EU's position against the US regarding future competition in the Lebanese market.      

Financial Aid

Lebanon has also been the beneficiary of financial assistance from the EU. According to EU resources, assistance offered to Lebanon includes:

•  Under the 1995-2000 MEDA I Programme, Lebanon received grant commitments totaling €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.

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.

By: Meir Javedanfar- www.meepas.com

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