“Civil society declaration – Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements: the mirage of the evaluation study”, 12 December 2019

As part of the evaluation study of 6 association agreements…between the [EU] and South Mediterranean countries (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia), the consultancy consortium carrying out the evaluation have held workshops in each of the six countries and sought the views of civil society. Based on the approach to the evaluation taken by this study, as presented in Tunis on 26^th September 2019 and in the Final Inception Report…24 civil society organizations in the EuroMed region [viewed] the evaluation as highly unsatisfactory:

1.  The economic methodology, which has been imposed by the [EU] Commission, is neither transparent nor suitable for an evaluation of the agreements;

2.  civil society has not been sufficiently involved, and [its] recommendations have not been taken into account;

3.  the study does not constitute an evaluation of the agreements in terms of sustainable development, including of the impact on the economic, social and environmental well-being of the populations concerned.

The critique is based on the international human rights framework, in particular the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights...and the "Guiding Principles on Human Rights Impact Assessments of Trade and Investments Agreements".