The development of EU trade preferences for Morocco, Israel, Egypt and Tunisia is very
similar. Those countries were first granted preferential access to the EU market under
individual Cooperation Agreements in the 1970s in the form of ad valorem tariff reductions
varying from 60% to 80% (Table 2). In 1986, the Cooperation Agreements were amended by
Additional Protocols to compensate for the relative degradation of agricultural trade
preferences due to the EU accession of Portugal and Spain. Under these protocols, ad valorem
tariffs were lowered analogously to the tariff reduction for Spain and Portugal from 1989 on,
but limited quantitatively by TRQs since 1991. These TRQs initially varied between 293,000t
for Israel and 7,000t for Egypt. Orange exports exceeding the quantity specified by the TRQ
were subject to the tariff reduction rate as established by the initial Cooperation Agreements.
In the ensuing years, TRQs slightly increased, and in January 1993 the ad valorem tariff
within the TRQ was abolished completely to coincide with the tariff cancellation for Spanish
and Portuguese orange exports. EPQs were introduced for Morocco and Israel concurrently
with the transformation of the reference price into the entry price system in December 1995.
Thus, Morocco and Israel were not concerned by the large increase in the MFN entry price
compared with the former reference price (see 2.2.1). Instead, the preferential entry price for
oranges in 1995/96 was set equal to the former reference price, amounting to 74.6% of the
MFN entry price (Table 3). It was successively diminished by 4% until 2001, parallel to the
reduction of the MFN entry price. For Egypt, an EPQ was established in December 1996.
Spain and Portugal had to comply with the reference price until December 1993. In the
second phase of EU accession transition (January 1990 to December 1993), oranges exported
from Spain to the EU had to adhere with the reference price indirectly due to a compensation
mechanism. In the event that the market price of Spanish oranges fell below the average EU
supply price, which could not be lower than the reference price, Spanish exporters had to pay
a compensation, equivalent to the difference between the reference price and the EU market
price (OJ L302, 15.11.1985, Article 152).
Between 1996 and 2004, the Cooperation Agreements were replaced by a series of Euro-
Mediterranean Agreements (EMAs). TRQs were increased for Morocco and Tunisia and were
abolished for Israel and Egypt. In addition, the EPQ increased significantly for Egypt. In the
most recent agreements amending the EMAs between the EU and Israel as well as Morocco,
TRQs were also eliminated for Moroccan oranges, and Israel’s EPQ was increased slightly.
For Cyprus, a tariff reduction was granted under an Association Agreement in the 1970s.
Subsequently, the reduction rate gradually increased until the tariff was fully removed in
December 1997. The tariff preference was supplemented by a preferential entry price, levied
within an EPQ of 48,200t and established concurrently with the EPQ for Egypt in December
1996. With Cyprus’ EU accession in 2004, trade barriers were completely eliminated. For
Turkey, the ad valorem tariff for orange exports to the EU was reduced under the
Supplementary Protocol to the Association Agreement in 1981 and removed completely in
1987.
Overall, total orange quotas, including TRQ and EPQ, granted by the EU to the MED orange
suppliers amounted to 593,000t in 1991, increasing to about 939,000t in 2000, and contracting
to about 635,000t in 2004, when the TRQ for Morocco was eliminated.