New peace and stability charter to top agenda at Euro-Med talks

Date: 19/11/1998

By Simon Taylor

EU governments are hoping to make a major breakthrough in their efforts to improve relations with Middle Eastern countries at a meeting next week.

Officials believe that recent progress in the Middle East peace process has improved chances of getting a wider agreement on common security issues in a region marred by border disputes and terrorist activity.

High-level representatives from the 15 EU member states and the 12 other countries which have signed up to the Euro-Mediterranean accord will hold their first- ever meeting specifically dedicated to discussing proposals for a 'charter for peace and stability' next Wednesday (24 November).

The charter would set out the fundamentals of political and security relations between the Union and its Euro-Med partners, detailing commitments on both sides to crisis prevention and conflict resolution.

Commission officials, who described the charter as the key element of the political and security chapter of the Euro-Med accord which was launched in Barcelona in 1995, say they do not expect agreement to be reached on the charter next week. But they hope that progress can be made in time for the next meeting of Euro-Med foreign ministers, which is due to be held in the German city of Stuttgart in April next year.

They argue that getting agreement on the charter must be given priority now because the other elements of the Barcelona accord relating to economic co-operation and cultural and social programmes have been far more successful to date.

The biggest obstacle to an accord a dispute between the Union and the Euro-Med countries over precisely what the new charter should cover.

While EU governments want to link commitments on security to human right issues and democratic freedoms, the Euro-Med countries are calling for the text to stress development and respect for cultural traditions.

Their aim is to ensure that they are not being asked to sign up to a deal which imposes conditions on them without offering anything in return.

One Commission official stressed, however, that progress on the charter depended entirely on the fate of the Middle East peace process and improved relations not only between Israel and the Palestinians, but also with neighbours Syria and Lebanon.

"We might get agreement on a text to be signed when the time is right, but it is unlikely unless there is a major break-through in the peace process," he said.

He added that Damascus and Beirut would not sign up to such an agreement until the question of Israel's occupation of their territory has been resolved.

Among EU governments, France, Italy and Germany have been in leading the way in pressing for agreement on the charter.

Paris in particular sees it as an important way of consolidating the EU's foreign policy role in the Middle East. It also dismisses suggestions that disagreements between the signatories to the Euro-Med accord mean that the charter will never amount to anything substantial. "It will be a complicated exercise, but it is certainly important that people get involved in real negotiations," said one French official.

The Euro-Med countries remain adamant that the fight against terrorism must be central to the EU's relations with the region and are planning to raise the issue at next week's meeting.

In general, the Middle Eastern countries are anxious to discuss co-operation on measures to tackle terrorist activities, but Algeria and Egypt have gone further by tabling specific demands for action to prevent terrorists from taking refuge in Union countries.

EU governments are, however, expected to rebuff attempts to agree concrete measures at this stage, citing problems over extradition issues as one example of the difficulties involved in giving firm commitments to take action.

Nevertheless, Commission officials argue that the fact that EU governments are discussing an issue put on the table by the Euro-Med countries is progress in itself.

"Ever since Barcelona we have been criticised for the North imposing the agenda on the South. This shows that it is a two-way process," said one.