Twelve years into the Barcelona Process
(28 November 1995) is a propitious occasion to take stock of the
successes and failures of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. The
project was ambitious. Its goal was to convert the Mediterranean Sea
into a zone of peace, stability and prosperity. To that end, the EU
proposed the establishment of a vast Euro-MED free trade area to be
completed by 2010, a substantial increase in financial assistance,
the conclusion of Association Agreements with each of the
neighboring countries in the Mediterranean, and the establishment of
a political dialogue with all the countries around the
Mediterranean.
Since 1995, the parties have established
numerous ministerial and official bodies to oversee the process but
crucially have failed to secure wide visibility and popular support.
Unfortunately, the Process has not permeated down to the grassroots
of societies on either side of the Mediterranean even if official
positions remain widely optimistic. Yet, the Euro-Mediterranean
Partnership (EMP) hitherto remains the most important regional
process that currently exists in the Mediterranean as it brings
together all of the European Union member states and twelve
Mediterranean countries including the recently admitted new
entrants, Albania and Mauritania.
At the first Euro-Mediterranean Foreign
Affairs Ministerial conference that took place in Barcelona in
November 1995, Malta, together with the original twenty-seven
Euro-Mediterranean countries, established three principal areas of
co-operation, i.e. the political and security partnership, the
economic and financial partnership and the social and cultural
partnership. The Barcelona Declaration stresses the strategic
importance of the Mediterranean being founded upon a basic
understanding that future Euro-Mediterranean relations should be
based on comprehensive cooperation and solidarity, in keeping with
the privileged nature of the links underpinned by neighbourhood and history.
It provides member states with ample
space to come up with several initiatives within the three baskets.
Such initiatives create a platform of confidence building measures
enhancing cooperation between the EU and partner countries. Although
vision is what should give us a shared direction, it is concrete
action that is paramount. One has to acknowledge that despite the
enduring conflict in the Middle East, the Euro-Mediterranean
Partnership has overseen significant achievements since its
inception. Common institutions and networks like the Anna Lindh
Foundation (ALF) for dialogue between cultures, the
Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA), the FEMISE
(network of economic research institutes) and EuroMesco (network of
political science institutes) constitute significant assets of a
partnership of the now 39 partner countries. We need to strengthen
these initiatives and we need similar initiatives if we really want
to enhance regional cooperation in the
Mediterranean.
One
important example is the creation of a financial institution, a
Euro-Mediterranean Development Bank which provides focus and
visibility to this process and which can provide the necessary
impetus to SMEs in the region. Such an important structure will be
vital for the enhancement of economic expansion in the Mediterranean
area.
By 2015 the EMP will vastly
enhance the trade volume within the trans-Mediterranean area.
One would reasonably expect that by 2015, the participating
countries will be carrying out circa 50‑60% of all their trade
within the zone. In the next decade, the EMP will also have a
positive impact on the amount of foreign direct investment in the
Mediterranean countries. Assured market access and an improved
overall political and economic environment will facilitate the task
of attracting investors from all over the world to our immediate
neighbourhood. Successful regional integration and successful
marketing of this reality attracts international investment and
provides opportunities for all EMP partners within an integrated
area which otherwise would be difficult to achieve
individually.
There are other areas where it is
possible to achieve concrete progress on a regional level. Take for
instance the environment. The issue of climate change is of concern
to the whole region and, indeed, globally. In this regard we
should focus on these areas to create common frameworks. Malta has
already proposed an early warning system when it comes to natural
disasters like tsunami. In the past century, the Mediterranean
experienced the consequences of such disasters and, today, with
further industrial and technological development , we tend to
be more vulnerable if such disasters come about. Climate change,
together with energy security and dialogue among cultures, are also
global issues which Malta is seeking to systematically promote in
regional fora: the EU-League Arab States ministerial meeting, held
in Malta just two months ago, has brought about increased awareness
and sensitivity about these issues which are of common concern to
the regional partners. The Meeting has been a successful
initiative in the context of the EU’s common and foreign security
policy, with both the EU Commission and the Presidency of the Arab
League recognizing interest and success that the Meeting generated
and agreeing to carry forward this inter-regional dialogue as a
means to address common concerns and support the political will to
achieve common objectives.
The
field of innovation, and technology and research is another area
where we can make progress together. EUROMEDITI is a Maltese led
project which aims in this direction. EUROMEDITI has already opened up
partnerships between research, business and government sectors
supporting innovation policies in the fields of water, environment,
sustainable energy, information and communication technologies. This
initiative aims to develop and empower an outstanding technology and
innovation platform in the Mediterranean market. This will appeal
directly to industries searching a location to execute applied
research and development, and a hub to access the emerging
Mediterranean market of around 400 million people.
Future Euro-Med programmes need to
ensure that people to people interaction is at the forefront with
the attention on young people in sharp focus.. It is essential that
a much larger number of students from the Arab world are given the
opportunity to study at EU universities and vice-versa. The Bologna
process which Malta embraces and promotes through inter-university
agreements must be made accessible to them. The same goes for joint
EU Arab research projects. We need a package of programmes that
seeks to tap into the wealth of intelligence in the
region.
However, if we want such initiatives to
fully succeed we need to generate more dialogue through the creation
of appropriate structures. Dialogue is of the essence and it is the
conduit to achieve cooperation. People-to-people dialogue is crucial
because it gives the required visibility to the partnership.
The Euro-Mediterranean
Partners should focus their attention during the next five years to
ensure that the EMP has a discernible positive impact on the
Euro-Mediterranean citizens it is supposed to be addressing. Raising
awareness of the EMP can be strengthened by directing more of future
Euro-Mediterranean programmes to the civil societal level,
especially educational programmes as already identified by the
European Commission in its work programme for the next five
years. What is
perhaps rather lacking is this Civil Society dimension and the
creation of an Economic and Social Council of the Mediterranean as a
necessary step towards a common house for civil society in our
region.
Such dialogue should take place within a
structured framework which is currently lacking in Mediterranean
fora. It is of utmost importance that we create adequate
structures which are not overly elaborate, in order to maintain
momentum and continuity. We are pleased to note that the 5+5
Dialogue has resumed its periodic foreign ministerial meetings after
a lacuna of two years. It is important that we do not create
excessive bureaucratic mechanisms impeding efficiency but rather aim
at basic complimentary structures which can help to stimulate
cooperation between partners.
The creation of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) is a positive example of a
regional initiative that will have adequate structures from the
outset. The instalment of its Secretariat here in Malta will give
this Assembly the required tools to function properly. Moreover, the
creation of PAM can illustrate how new initiatives in the region
function in harmony with other already established frameworks. The
PAM is not just another parliamentary assembly – it is a
Parliamentary Assembly of all the littoral Mediterranean countries
dealing with issues of regional interest.
New initiatives also serve to create
impetus and we think that the EU – Arab League Initiative will give
new impetus to regional cooperation. While the EU has several levels
of cooperation with different regional frameworks around the globe
like ASEAN and MERCUSOR; it lacks similar dialogue with the Arab
League. Malta believes that the EU’s relations with the Arab
World is of vital interest to both sides and is pleased to note that
the initiative will be followed up in tangible terms by the European
Commission in the coming weeks.
The
novel French proposal of a Union for the Mediterranean is another
initiative that has to develop in harmony with the other already
established frameworks. We should not jeopardize what we have
struggled to achieve in the last decade and a half but create
frameworks that can develop harmoniously together, not at an expense
of one another. The European Council has given the green light to
the French proposal to boost ties with the bloc’s southern
neighbours. In practice, the Union for the Mediterranean will be a
new political umbrella over the existing Euro-Med partnership. The
process of trade, cultural and political cooperation has yielded
unsatisfactory results partly due to the lingering
Israeli-Palestinian conflict but also because some Mediterranean
partner states are poorly equipped to absorb EU funds. The European
Council has approved, in principle, that what is functioning in the
Euro-Med dialogue should be retained, while the use of Community
procedures should ascertain a degree of transparency in the process
that will see private capital working with public funding. The
setting up of a mechanism for monitoring projects and a high level
dialogue every two years will allow for an in depth review of the
practical projects.
In
order for the partnership to be successful, cooperation in the trade
sector should be further promoted. We believe that closer trade ties
with our Mediterranean partners would be to the economic benefit of
both the EU and the Mediterranean region as a whole. We remain firm
believers that the Mediterranean region should be encouraged to
regain its historic role as a cradle for trading nations and
civilizations. Association Agreements have made a deep difference in
the European Union’s trading relationship with the southern
Mediterranean countries. In a period of ten years, these countries
have doubled their trade with the EU and their trade deficit with
the EU has been cut by half. However, more needs to be done to
reap the full potential of this relationship. It is also clear that
Malta’s trade with all the Mediterranean partners can clearly be
developed further as there are still many opportunities for
increased trade and investment flows within the
region.
As
we look forward to the Paris Summit next July for the re-launch and
reinvigoration of the Barcelona Process through the Union for the
Mediterranean, it is important to allow for variable geometry to be
applied, conscious of the different situations of our partners.
Turkey is already linked to the EU through a customs union; Morocco
has been granted a special status in bilateral relations with the
EU; Algeria rejects the idea of a free trade zone; Libya is still
largely on the margins although the new framework agreement to be
negotiated with the EU proffers new prospects for its regional
integration. The principle of differentiation inherent in the
European Neighbourhood Policy remains sine qua non.
The
Union for the Mediterranean should be an instrument in sharing the
EU’s Mediterranean policy whereby non-EU countries would get a
genuine co-decision role. In essence, we need to secure more
political readability in the Union for the Mediterranean that the
Barcelona Process lacked; we need to secure an inclusive
pan-Mediterranean approach while remaining sensitive to the
individual needs of the partner countries. We should strive to
globalize the Mediterranean region to a more politically sensitive
level if we really want to generate a new impetus into the Barcelona
Process. This is a new challenge we have to meet through open and
frank dialogue. Sensibly selected, down-to-earth, Mediterranean
projects developed in partnership with the highest possible
functionality and widest visibility could be the practical and
pragmatic means to express this political will.
Through such projects we will avoid a
permanent divide between the prosperous northern shores of the
Mediterranean basin and the less prosperous southern shores. The
emergence of such a fault-line would have dire consequences for the
entire region and its peoples. In the new interdependent post Cold
War reality of today, the invisibility of security in Europe, the
Mediterranean, the Americas, the Asia, dictates that the
international community works more closely together to manage global
sources of instability. Malta, as it has done throughout history,
looks forward to continuing the commitment to such a collective
security framework.
(Source DOI of Malta, PR 0532/2008; www.doi.gov.mt/EN/press_releases/2008/04/pr0532.asp )
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