Hopes rise for early deal on EU strategy for Mediterranean

Date: 20/01/2000

By Simon Taylor

THE Portuguese presidency is optimistic about the chances of getting agreement on a new EU strategy for relations with the Mediterranean countries by March, despite continuing disagreements between member states over the Union's role in the Middle East peace process.

EU governments have been working on a common strategy for the Mediterranean, which would set out the Union's political objectives for the region, since last year. Significant progress was made during the Finnish presidency and Portuguese officials say the "right conditions exist" for finalising the strategy within the next two months.

But the reluctance of many member states to sign up to anything which could result in the EU providing military or security personnel to police any peace deal between Israel, the Palestinians, Syria and Lebanon could dash hopes of an early deal.

The priority which the Portuguese presidency attaches to better relations with the countries of the Middle East has been underlined by Foreign Minister Jaime Gama's decision to visit four countries in the region and Palestinian representatives this week, accompanied by the EU's special envoy for the region Miguel Moratinos and Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat is also expected to travel to Brussels for talks with EU foreign ministers next Monday (24 January) and Israel's Regional Cooperation Minister Shimon Peres is due to meet Commission President Romano Prodi and External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten next week.

Common strategies are a key part of the EU's attempts to improve its effectiveness in the foreign-policy arena by laying down a set of common objectives for all 15 member states to work towards.

Once Union governments have agreed on the overall approach, individual initiatives can be decided by qualified majority vote, allowing the EU to act more quickly and flexibly than if all decisions had to be taken by unanimity.

But member states are divided over whether the Union should commit itself at this stage to helping police any deal struck at the ongoing Middle East peace talks, which are expected to produce a settlement before the end of this year.

"Some member states want to go further on security cooperation but the majority are cautious. Some think the US has made the running on this and our role is to work with the US," said one diplomat.

Washington has suggested sending peace-keeping troops to the region to man a buffer zone between Israel and Syria, depending on the outcome of talks between the two sides in the US.

The Union agreed to draw up a common strategy for the region in December 1998 at the request of Spain, Italy and Greece. But there was initial scepticism that the EU would be able to devise a programme which would add much to the 1995 'Barcelona process', which deals extensively with economic development, human rights and cultural exchange.

Officials insist, however, that such a strategy is needed to plan the EU's approach to the region once a peace deal has been struck. "If we get to the stage of a comprehensive resolution, there will be an expansion of the multilateral track of the Barcelona process and greater opportunities for regional cooperation," said one. "The question is how do you integrate this into the Barcelona process."

Union officials add that the strategy could be used to restate the Union's emphasis on protecting human rights and promoting the rule of law in the region. "In Barcelona there was a compromise on human rights and civil society between the 15 EuroMed partners and the EU-12," said one. "The EuroMed partners had a more restrictive view on human rights, good governance and pluralist democracy."

Officials say the new strategy could also reflect Union initiatives in justice and home affairs which were agreed at the special summit in Tampere last October.

"There was not much on justice and home affairs at Barcelona because the Community acquis was not highly developed, but since then we have been doing a lot more to tackle problems like illegal immigrants, drugs and organised crime," said one.

The Portuguese Presidency is optimistic about the chances of getting agreement on a new EU strategy for relations with the Mediterranean countries by March 2000, despite continuing disagreements between Member States over the Union's role in the Middle East peace process.