MEP urges EU to work towards integration of Morocco into European single market

The European Union has everything to gain from pushing for greater integration of Morocco into the European single market, said MEP Inmaculada Rodríguez-Piñero Fernández.

In a written question to the European Commission, the Spanish MEP from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats Group and member of the European Parliament Committee on International Trade recalled that the European Commission has reaffirmed in one of its recent reports its conviction that granting access to the EU market is an essential means of supporting the objective of the European Neighborhood Policy and promoting prosperity in the southern Mediterranean countries.

She added that the EU is negotiating trade agreements with neighboring partners to promote the economic development of the region and further integration into the European single market, while wondering, with regard to Morocco in the light of ongoing trade relations and their development within the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership in force since 2000, how the European Commission is conducting and assessing Morocco's progressive integration into the European single market.

Morocco has enjoyed an advanced status with the European Union since 2008, the objectives of which are to strengthen dialogue and cooperation on political and security matters, the gradual integration of Morocco into the EU's internal market through legislative and regulatory convergence and the extension of the partnership to new sectors.

Negotiations on a deep and comprehensive free trade area between the EU and Morocco (ALECA) had also been launched in March 2013. Four rounds of negotiations had taken place and satisfactory technical progress had been made.