ABSTRACT
The Barcelona Process, when it was first introduced in 1995 in the Barcelona Declaration, was a holistic initiative designed to address the issue of creating a shared zone of peace, prosperity and stability in the Mediterranean basin. The key to the economic and financial partnership is the creation of bilateral free trade zones in industrial goods, together with five-year protocols providing financial aid to the private sector, under the Mesures d'Adjustement (MEDA) programmes, alongside equivalent amounts of soft loan facilities from the European Investment Bank. The Barcelona Declaration contains clear statements on free trade adjustment (FTA) which have three different dimensions- economic, social and institutional in nature. The establishment of a FTZ with the EU would significantly deregulate existing liberalisation policy mechanisms initiated by the authorities. The FTZ alternative significantly speeds up liberalization and act as a process initiated without properly identifying or mobilizing means to reduce costs and bring about conditions of success.
