1 - Vulnerability of the mediterranean regions of the EU
WHICH PRODUCE FRESH AND PROCESSED FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
The European fruit and vegetables sector displays considerable diversity, depending on the supply sub-
chains, the countries and the regions. The interactivity of the different factors, which determine how the
supply chains work, creates multiple configurations specific to the regions. The importance of the fruit
and vegetable activity in the regional economy, the level of economic development, the structure and
dynamics of the companies which form the productive fabric, the efficiency of the public or professional
institutions and the natural endowments of the regions (climate, soil quality, water resources, etc.) result
in heterogeneous performances in the fruit and vegetable sector. The effects of commercial liberalisation
are thus felt differently from one region to another. The aim of this section is to attempt, using a synthetic
indicator called the RVI (Regional Vulnerability Index) to define the levels of vulnerability of the regions
specialising in the production of fruit and vegetables in Spain, France, Greece, Italy and Portugal
according to the current potentialities and constraints as well as the prospects for opening Euro-
Mediterranean trade.
1.1. - Theoretical foundations of the RVI
In the literature devoted to the impact of international trade liberalisation on the countries concerned, the
neo-classical school uses so-called “computable general equilibrium” models to measure variations in
welfare (generally estimated using the variation in GDP) based on hypotheses concerning the price
elasticities of supply and demand.
Several models have been devoted to Euro-Mediterranean trade liberalisation (cf. for example Augier and
Gasoriek, 2001; Bchir et al, 2003). These models can be criticised for the numerous restrictive hypotheses
which enable them to be built and the mechanical and stylised nature of the illustrations they provide of
reality, as well as the major uncertainty vis-à-vis the quality and representativeness of the numerous
parameters used (Cling and Ould Aoudia, 2003).
These models nevertheless permit the questions and situations to be formalised. In the current context of
economic tools, they remain an essential element and should be perceived as a basis for analysis,
provided that they are completed by means of a critical examination of the results, in particular in light of
the unorthodox theoretical currents such as those resulting from institutional economics. This is precisely
the procedure adopted here, which consists not of estimating an impact using simulations on a global or
sector-based mathematical model which limits have been stipulated, but of identifying the levels of risk
involved. Institutionalist (Nelson and Winter, 1982) and strategic (Wernerfelt, 1984) theories suggest
identifying the factors of performance and, a contrario, of the weakening (or even vulnerability) of the
European regions which produce fruit and vegetables in a context of increased competition.
The concept of vulnerability
Vulnerability can be defined as “the degree of loss suffered by an element (or a group of elements)
exposed to a risk and which is attributable to a given unforeseen event of given severity” (UNDP, 1991).
This definition takes into account the vulnerability linked to damage caused by natural catastrophes
(earthquake or collapse of a building for example), climatic or economic events. Several studies by
USAID (Downing, 1991) have considered the question of evaluating the vulnerability of social groups to
famine, lack of water or the reduction in aid and financial credits, etc.
The FAO explains that vulnerability is a relationship between three factors: risks, the resulting crises and
resilience5. The risks/crises couple affects the well-being of the populations (example of food hazards)
whereas resilience concerns all strategies deployed to avoid the impact of the crises. Vulnerability,
therefore, demonstrates a positive correlation with the impact of the crises and a negative correlation with
resilience.
5 The resilience is a physics concept witch expresses the resistance to an shock. By extension, this term refers, in
biology and social sciences, to the capability to resist to external stresses (cf. Downing, 1991). In some ways,
resilience may be understood as adaptability.