Euro-Med still makes progress despite tension

Date: 03/04/1997

By Mark Turner

WHEN foreign ministers from 27 European and Mediterranean countries meet in Malta later this month, the tension will probably be palpable.

With representatives from Israel and Palestine, Turkey and Greece, France and the Maghreb seated round one table, the potential for fireworks will be enormous.

And while diplomats hope that enmities will be left at home, Commission officials fear the threat of Arab sanctions on Israel could seriously undermine the discussions on economic and political cooperation.

The second Euro-Mediterranean Conference will mark a year and a half of cooperation between the EU and 12 countries round the Mediterranean basin - excluding Libya - which it deems powerful enough to be friends but too different to be members. It will essentially be a stocktaking exercise, with ministers asking what has actually happened since they met with great pomp two Novembers ago in Barcelona, announcing their intention to trade freely by 2010.

As such, the meeting will not produce any stunning results - “one should not overestimate the importance of the conference”, stressed a Dutch diplomat - but will be replete with symbolism in a highly fraught period.

The first Euro-Med summit's showpiece was the EU's pledge to negotiate association agreements with each of the Mediterranean nations by the next time they met.

By that criterion, the months since have produced markedly mixed results. Since Cyprus, Malta and Turkey already had bilateral deals in place with the Union before November 1995, the European Commission's negotiating teams faced a goal of nine agreements in 18 months - or one every two months.

But so far only Israel, Morocco, Tunisia and the Palestinian Authorities have signed, leaving Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Algeria and Syria as ongoing obstacles

to the realisation of External Relations Commissioner Manuel Marín's grand dream.

An agreement with Jordan is virtually ready and ministers hope that it can be signed by the time they assemble. A Lebanese deal is technically complete, although politicians in Beirut are having second thoughts about its implications.

But talks with Egypt have all but collapsed over the perennial issue of agricultural access to Union markets. “The Egyptians quite rightly criticise EU restrictions on agricultural imports, but at the same time make unrealistic demands for immediate reform,” explained a Brussels diplomat, who also warned that Egypt was putting pressure on Jordan not to sign before its difficulties are resolved.

Negotiations have begun with Algeria but have a long way to run, and talks with Syria have not gone beyond the feasibility study stage, reflecting its continued domestic economic troubles.

Finally, the European Parliament has ensured that financial aid to Turkey due under the MEDA programme remains blocked, casting a continued pall over the Union's relationship with Ankara.

It would, however, be unfair to judge the Barcelona process, as it has been dubbed, by the measure of liberal trade alone.

The partnership has set up a multilateral forum which is quite unique in its ability to get natural enemies talking. “Many of these countries have never had such an opportunity to meet each other and settle their differences amicably,” said a spokesman for Marín.

And while there is a long way to go, the Euro-Med programme has already begun a process of regional commercial and technical cooperation which has been sorely lacking in the past.

While ministerial meetings attract the lion's share of attention, the labyrinth of official and commercial contacts which has been established is where the real progress has been made.

Although sometimes criticised as overly Euro-centric, a myriad of Euro-Med meetings and seminars have been so well attended that they are in some danger of getting out of control.

One of the most contentious debates in Malta will focus on the creation of a Helsinki-style 'stability charter', for security without military intervention. They will also seek to jump-start inter-regional trade amongst

the Arab partners, overcoming decades of bilateral dependence on Europe, through the harmonisation of standards and certificates.

Finally, ministers will push for more inter-cultural cooperation, including greater dialogue on human rights and joint approaches to organised crime and immigration.