27Secondly, as regards the purpose and nature of the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement, it should be pointed out that, under Article 96(2) thereof, that Agreement replaces the Cooperation Agreement between the European Economic Community and the Republic of Tunisia, which was approved on behalf of the Community by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2212/78 of 26 September 1978 concerning the conclusion of the Cooperation Agreement between the European Economic Community and the Republic of Tunisia (OJ 1978 L 265, p. 2, hereinafter ‘the EEC-Tunisia Agreement’), which it follows in stating that its aim is to promote cooperation in the economic, social, cultural and financial fields. That Cooperation Agreement was itself substantially identical to the EEC-Morocco Agreement, the purpose and nature of which have been held by the Court to be compatible, particularly as regards cooperation in the field of labour, with the direct effect deriving from the terms of the first paragraph of Article 40 thereof (see El-Yassini, paragraphs 28 to 31). That is a fortiori the position in the case of the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement which, by contrast with the EEC-Morocco Agreement, establishes under Article 1(1) an association between the Community and its Member States, of the one part, and Tunisia, of the other part.
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