‘Democracy’ divides EU and Arab leaders

By Andrew Beatty

Date: 17/11/05

With just weeks to go before a crucial summit, European and Arab leaders are locked in a bitter disagreement over democracy promotion that threatens the success of the meeting.

High-level officials failed to reach an agreement on a joint declaration last week (8 November), with Arab countries objecting to some of the language proposed by the EU.

An emergency meeting has been scheduled to try to overcome the difficulties ahead of the summit that will take place in Barcelona on 27 November.

Diplomats said that some Arab countries, led by Egypt, continue to oppose a raft of references in the text to democracy promotion, the rights of non-governmental organisations and the independence of the judiciary.

An initial draft put forward by the EU called for "an increase in the number, range and capacity of independent civil society organisations" and proposed a Governance Facility for the region to provide funding.

An US-sponsored conference promoting a similar fund ended in failure on Sunday (14 November) with Arab states demanding restrictions on foreign funding and governmental oversight.

Officials are now concerned that the failure of that meeting could threaten the success of the Euromed summit and put additional pressure on the EU, as hosts, to make concessions.

"We are still very far apart," said one source close to the negotiations, "it looks like they [the Arab states] are trying to push [the negotiators] up to the summit."

The Arab states are also continuing to press for references to "the legitimate right to resist occupation" to be added in reference to the Middle East peace process.

The negotiations come at a difficult time, during disputed parliamentary elections in Egypt.

Voters are selecting parliamentarians who will elect the next president.

On Wednesday (16 November) European parliamentarians criticised the handling of the first round of elections describing, them as flawed.

"On the technical level things appeared to be quite good but the issue of observers and voter registration seems to still be a problem," said Dutch Green MEP Joost Lagendijk who travelled unofficially to Egypt to observe the vote.

And, he said, it came "after months of total overexposure of the ruling party in the media".

A second and third round of polling is expected to take place on 20 November and 1 December, on either side of the Barcelona summit.

Preview of an Extraordinary meeting of Euro-Mediterranean Heads of State or Government in Barcelona, 27-28 November 2005. Article reports on a dispute before the crucial meeting when high-level officials failed to reach an agreement on a joint declaration on 8 November 2005, with Arab countries objecting to some of the language proposed by the EU in relation to democracy promotion.

http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/euromed/conf/index.htm http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/euromed/conf/index.htm

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