Introductory text

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 207(4), in conjunction with Article 218(6)(a) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

Having regard to the consent of the European Parliament,

Whereas:

On 20 November 1995, the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the State of Israel, of the other part^f1 (hereinafter ‘the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement’) was signed.

On 14 November 2005, the Council authorised the Commission to conduct negotiations in order to achieve greater liberalisation of trade in agricultural products, processed agricultural products and fish and fishery products with certain Mediterranean countries. The negotiations with Israel were successfully concluded on 18 July 2008. The results of those negotiations are contained in an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Community and the State of Israel concerning reciprocal liberalisation measures on agricultural products, processed agricultural products and fish and fishery products, the replacement of Protocols 1 and 2 and their Annexes and amendments to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the State of Israel, of the other part^f2 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the 2010 Agreement’), which entered into force on 1 January 2010.

After the entry into force of the 2010 Agreement, the European Commission and Israel held a number of technical meetings relating to its implementation. Those meetings showed that some technical adjustments to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement were necessary in order to comply with the commitments of the previous agreements between the European Communities and the State of Israel, which entered into force in 2000 and 2006. On 19 September 2011, the Commission and Israel concluded the negotiation of the necessary technical adjustments, which are contained in a new Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union, of the one part, and the State of Israel, of the other part, amending the Annexes to Protocols 1 and 2 of the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the State of Israel, of the other part (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Agreement’). The Agreement was signed on 18 June 2012, in compliance with Council Decision 2012/338/EU^f3.

The Agreement should be approved,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: