Association Agreement

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As Association Agreement (including the Association Agreement ) are international legal agreements refer to operations where the contracting party to an inter national or supranational community ties, but not (full) member is the community. The associated partner is granted rights and obligations.

Association agreements are common in trade policy .

Association Agreement of the European Union

history

In March 1957, six European states signed the Treaty of Rome , including the Treaty establishing the European Community . The treaties came into force on January 1, 1958; from that day there was the European Economic Community (EEC), the forerunner organization of the EU. Konstantinos Karamanlis , Prime Minister of Greece from 1955 to 1963, vigorously pushed for Greece to join the EEC. On July 9, 1961, an Association Agreement was signed between the EEC and Greece.
France enforced the 'association' of its African colonies in the EEC . Italy had the colony of Italian Somaliland until mid-1960 ; Belgium had Belgian Congo until mid-1960 . They were allowed to export agricultural products duty-free to the EEC and in return had to reduce their tariffs on the EEC. In these colonies the European Development Fund was set up to promote the economic development of the colonies. In the first funding period of five years, the colonies became independent. The Yaoundé agreements were signed with the new states in 1963 and 1969 . After Great Britain joined the European Economic Community on January 1, 1973 , its former colonies, Commonwealth countries , also wanted an association. In 1975 the Lomé Convention was signed , which was signed by 46 so-called ACP countries (African, Caribbean and Pacific), which also included numerous former British colonies. Like the association agreements, it contained reciprocal tariff preferences and, as a new element, the Stabex system , which was supposed to alleviate the dependence of these countries on their agricultural exports to the EC through guarantees for export earnings. Compensation payments should be granted when world market prices are low. In the successor agreement of 1979, Lomé II, mineral raw materials were also included in addition to agricultural products ( Sysmin system ).

present

The currently valid Lomé V Convention was concluded in 2000 and has a total term of 20 years. With the end of the East-West conflict , new opportunities arose for the European Union in the now independent states of Central and Eastern Europe.

The European Union has association agreements (AA) with third countries , whereby candidate countries must meet the Copenhagen criteria . As part of the accession negotiations between the Republic of Turkey and the European Union, such an agreement exists with the candidate country Turkey. The basis and forerunner was the Ankara Agreement (Turkish Ankara Antlaşması ) concluded in 1963 between Turkey and the EEC , which was dissolved in 2009 .

Within the framework of the Eastern Partnership , the EU signed an association agreement with Ukraine , Moldova and Georgia , which was signed in Brussels on June 27, 2014. In addition, the EU aims to associate non-European countries and territories that have special relations with Denmark, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom with the Union ( Art. 198 TFEU ).

The European Commission and the European Parliament develop the measures to protect the Union in trade policy in accordance with Art. 207 TFEU. The Commission submits recommendations to the European Council and these can be negotiated by the Commission with the support of an appointed special committee. The results of the negotiations on association agreements are then adopted as mixed agreements by the Council with a qualified majority after consulting the European Parliament. The national parliaments are informed and can participate.

Association agreements can only be unanimous in the Council if the internal rules of the Union contain certain provisions.

These can include:

  • Foreign direct investment
  • Trade in services
  • Trade in services of the social, educational and health sectors
  • Trade in cultural and audiovisual services
  • Commercial aspects of intellectual property

The association agreements can be concluded in the context of and in the field of humanitarian aid . The Council decides by qualified majority throughout the procedure. The principle of unanimity applies to association agreements and agreements according to Art. 212 TFEU ​​with applicant states.

Under Article 215 TFEU, the association agreements can be repealed by the Council by a qualified majority on a joint proposal by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the Commission.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b European Commission - Enlargement - Association Agreement . ec.europa.eu. Archived from the original on August 23, 2010. Retrieved October 11, 2009.
  2. ^ Zeit Online: "EU binds Georgia and Moldova." Retrieved on June 4, 2014
  3. ↑ see AEUV, pages 93 to 102 (PDF)
  4. ↑ see AEUV page 94 (PDF)