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european community, the
was worried mainly by the changes that would occur in Great
Britain because of the great weight of this country in Israeli
exports (especially of agricultural products) as well as the
fact that the British would raise their custom duties up to the
level of CET. The British market had been for years traditionally
the most important outlet for Israeli fresh oranges and
citrus juices; the British government had a very liberal policy
on food imports since its agriculture could not supply more
than a small part of local consumption. Entering the Community
meant a major change for Great Britain since the Community
had a huge surplus of food and the EC would impose
the Common Agricultural Policy. Custom duties on fresh oranges
and orange juice, for example, would rise steeply; Morocco
and Tunisia would enjoy a 4% reduction and therefore
there was a danger of diversion of trade in favor of the oranges
of these countries against Israeli fruit. Plywood and bromine
were among the Israeli industrial products that would have
to pay higher custom duties because of the British adhesion
to the EEC.
The Mediterranean Policy
On February 9, 1971, the European Parliament adopted a
resolution inviting the member states to draw up a common
policy towards the Mediterranean countries. At the meeting
of the EEC Council of Ministers on June 26–27, 1972, Maurice
Schuman, French foreign minister, presented a completely
new idea: that a “global solution for manufactured products”
be found to solve most of the problems of Spain, Israel, and
other Mediterranean countries.
The official Israeli reaction to the French proposal was
stated by Foreign Minister Abba Eban in a press conference
given on August 7, 1972:
I was asked about an idea, proposed by M. Schuman, of a Mediterranean
free-trade area including Israel. I think it is a positive
idea. It responds to Israel’s desire to be associated with a large
market and a large community into which its exports would
have free entry. We must understand, and our industrialists too,
that reciprocity is involved. We would have to open our market,
which is a large one for Europe, much more widely…
On November 6 and 7, 1972, the Community Council of Ministers
set out the guidelines of the global approach which was
to include all the countries of the Mediterranean plus Jordan,
with the aim of creating free-trade areas progressively covering
also the main agricultural products, as well as organizing
financial cooperation for some countries.
On January 30, 1973, a protocol was signed by the Community
with Israel and a formal promise was given that a new
agreement should be negotiated and would enter into force
before January 1974, when the first adjustment to CET was due
to take place in Great Britain.
The Council gave a first mandate to the Commission
on June 25/26, 1973, but it was not possible to respect the timetable
and to complete the package deal with Israel, Spain, Morocco,
Tunisia, Algeria, and Malta before the end of the year.
At the very last moment the British government decided uni-
laterally to apply a “standstill,” not raising duties on imports
from the six Mediterranean countries. The danger of a negative
repercussion on the Israeli economy deriving from the
British adhesion was thus temporarily avoided.
A wide range of opinions appeared once more among
the member states of the Community. France gave all its support
to Spain and the North African countries and stressed
its friendship for the Arab countries. Italy was torn between
the necessity of paying for most of the concessions to be made
on agricultural products of other Mediterranean countries, often
in competition with its own, and the desire to play fully
its role of a Mediterranean power. Germany, the main commercial
partner of the Mediterranean countries, had a moral
obligation to Israel and the will to reach an understanding
with the Arab states, while generally helping in removing
obstacles in the way of the Israeli agreement. In the Benelux
countries the business community was eager for closer links
with Spain, while public opinion and Parliaments were against
Spain for political reasons and in favor of closer links with
Israel. A compromise was found enabling each member state
to foster its political and economic goals in accordance with
its sympathies and interests. In order to avoid United States’
opposition to the Mediterranean policy, Great Britain asked
and obtained the assurance that no reverse preferences should
be given by the southern Mediterranean countries, with the
exception of Israel, to the EEC.
After a first round of negotiations, the Commission sent
back its proposals to the Council, accepting most of the Israeli
requests, in order to obtain a “supplementary mandate.” The
Council met again and in its session of July 22/23, 1974, gave
the general guidelines for a new mandate.
In December 1974 a new round of negotiations led, after
a non-stop meeting from 3 p.m. till 7:25 a.m. next morning,
to an agreed text of the new treaty establishing a free trade
area for industrial products. The new agreement was signed
in Brussels on May 11, 1975, by Foreign Minister Yigal Allon
for Israel and by the Irish foreign minister, Garrett Fitzgerald,
for the EEC. The agreement, which came into force on July 1,
1975, has no time limit and is therefore still in force; it is of
a much wider scope than the two previous ones as it establishes
a free trade area although limited to industrial products;
Israel gave full reciprocity but with a delay of some years.
Thus, while the EEC completed tariff dismantling on Israeli
goods already on July 1, 1977, the gradual implementation of
the same dismantling by Israel on EEC goods was completed
on January 1, 1989, simultaneously to goods originating in the
United States thanks to the Free Trade Agreement between
Israel and that country.
The Israeli industrialist could now look at the whole
Community as its potential market and should be able to
produce on a much bigger scale well above the needs of the
Israeli domestic market. On the other hand the competition
with European goods was now felt inside Israel itself and this
implied the need to reach higher productivity, better quality,
and in general a more competitive product.
564 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6