Helping Europe’s southern neighbours take a leap forward

Date: 12/05/05

Two MEPs give their views on the way ahead for the Euro-Mediterranean partnership

There is more to relations with the Mediterranean than just economics, says Pasqualina Napoletano

The Council of Ministers has indicated that 2005 is an important year for the Mediterranean region.

I think we should back this choice, particularly if we consider the importance of this being the tenth anniversary of the Barcelona Declaration, which opened up a new avenue in Euro-Mediterranean relations.

The anniversary comes in the context of deep changes in the political, institutional and economical framework of the whole area.

The Mediterranean represents for Europe, even more today than before, an absolute priority. There we see all the biggest challenges for peace - security and the fight against terrorism above all - for development, for respect of human rights, for the safeguarding of the environment and for positive governance of immigration.

The tenth anniversary of the Barcelona Declaration moves us along a route that will define the new instruments of policy for the neighbourhood. This process could reinforce the spirit of Barcelona, which was inspired by the principle of partnership, and could foster an evolution and progress toward a real concept of co-development.

Ten years on, the political balance is just as nuanced, above all because most of our expectations are far from being realised, especially in the all-important fields of democracy, the development of civil society and the promotion of human rights.

I do not want to deny that there has been some form of important progress, for example the development of the civil society network, which is now part of the Mediterranean Civil Forum, and also the institution of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, a fundamental instrument which is now to promote and to sustain a common area founded on rights, democracy and development.

With the aim of strengthening the whole of Euro-Mediterranean relations we need to overturn structural limits on the policy toward our southern partners. In fact, Euro-Mediterranean policy cannot be founded only on bilateral relations. Particularly with regard to the question of human rights and democracy, it is important to have a multilateral vision. That has been the choice of several partners of the EU, who decided to assume a kind of multilateral approach

A bilateral approach in the implementation of the Barcelona Process risks creating a sort of 'relation à la carte' between EU institutions and Arab governments. That could be useful to several regimes, which are far from interested in the introduction of democratic reforms in their countries.

A new impulse to the Barcelona Process cannot be realised without the enforcement of actions directly orientated towards civil society, for example through concrete programmes dedicated to the fight against illiteracy, especially among women.

Among the goals of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership, the goal of liberalising markets is still dominant, when compared with the other aims of developing culture, peace and security.

It is therefore necessary to get past the economic preoccupation which is now motivating the intervention of the Union.

The next steps could be, for that reason, to create a roadmap which can lead to the creation of a real Euro-Mediterranean citizenship, overcoming the ambiguity which comes from opposing the Barcelona Process to institutional enlargement.

Is all that a utopia? I don't think so. Only the dictatorial regimes, and those which use religion as an instrument to achieve political goals, want to persuade us that Islamic diversity is incompatible with democracy and human rights. From these countries, on the contrary, other signs are coming. Unfortunately, we are not always ready to pick up on them.

• Italian MEP Pasqualina Napoletano is a vice-chairwoman of the Socialist group and a delegate to the Euro-Mediterranean parliamentary assembly.

It is time to move away from symbolic gestures and embark on concrete action, argues Simon Busuttil

Looking beyond 2005, the tenth anniversary of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, for which reason it has been designated 'The Year of the Mediterranean', the European Union's main challenge is how to turn the partnership into an effective instrument of consolidation and change in the region.

To do this it needs the support of the Arab states, the co-owners of the project while the two together need to win over the support of the people of the region. The priorities to be confronted have already been identified: human rights and democracy, sustainable growth and education, particularly for women.

Ten years ago when the Barcelona process was launched, there was moderate optimism mixed with lingering uncertainties. The end of the Cold War, symbolically buried in Malta in 1989 during the Bush-Gorbachev seawater summit, had led to a marked improvement in international relations, except of course in the Gulf region and the Balkans.

Scepticism about the Middle East process had not yet set in. The signing of the Taba Accord (Oslo II) in September 1995 led to cautious optimism.

The launching of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership in November, just 24 days after the assassination of Yitzak Rabin, showed the EU's dogged determination to take the gentle breeze of peace blowing over the Middle East in its sails.

Today we stand at a quasi-similar crossroads with a sense of "having been here before". 2005 started with some good tidings: elections in Palestine, the end of the intifada and renewed contacts between Israel and the Palestinians. Positive signs came also from Lebanon, culminating in a Syrian withdrawal.

This year should also witness the start of the Agadir Free Trade Area, the first critical step in south-south integration, the essential counterpart to the bilateral free trade accords between the EU and its Mediterranean partners. The Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly has taken off with its first meeting in Cairo last March. This will strengthen the parliamentary dimension of the partnership while adding to its visibility.

In short, with the Euro-Mediterranean free trade area still some distance away from the finishing line, there is quite a lot to encourage us to move forward.

And there is still much to be done, particularly to overcome poverty. I wish to underline this in view of the meeting of world leaders this September to discuss progress on the Millennium Development Goals.

It is worth keeping in mind that around 5% of the population of the Middle East and North African region (MENA), 1.9% in North Africa, subsist on less than a dollar a day while the female participation rate in the labour force and in education remains low when benchmarked with comparable countries.

Unemployment in North Africa averages around 29.4%. Just less than 38% of urban populations dwell in slums. The Mediterranean countries must not relent in their economic reforms if they wish to reap the benefits of the free trade area with the EU and to alleviate poverty further.

But together with the EU they must also attend to another urgent priority: political reform. The publication of the latest UNDP Arab Human Development Report completes the trilogy begun in 2002 while vigorously renewing the call for change.

The challenging question is: "how do we get there?"

The first step must be a common resolve to achieve change. I hope that the Partnership's foreign ministers will give a clear impetus to this resolve when they meet in Luxembourg at the end of this month.

We urgently need to move away from symbolic gestures and to embark on concrete steps. I dare say that the story of political reforms of the last five years has not been impressive.

Its slowness also acts as a retarding influence on economic growth. It is time to break out of this vicious circle.

• Maltese centre-right MEP Simon Busuttil is a delegate to the Euro-Mediterranean parliamentary assembly.

Two MEPs give their views on the way ahead for the Euro-Mediterranean partnership.