New signs of life in Euro-Med partnership

Date: 11/05/2000

Foreign ministers from the EU and its Mediterranean partners will meet in Lisbon at the end of this month to discuss ways of revitalising ties between the two sides, as the Union seeks to reassure countries in the region that the current focus on enlargement does not mean that the EU is turning its back on its southern neighbours. Shada Islam reports

PLANS for a first-ever Euro-Med summit to be held in Marseille at the end of this year are set to dominate EU relations with its 12 southern Mediterranean partners for most of 2000.

Foreign ministers from both regions will meet in Lisbon on 25-26 May to kick-start long-overdue discussions on ways of reinvigorating relations between the two areas, including plans to chart a more powerful political and security role for the Union in the wider Middle East peace process.

The Marseille summit, tentatively scheduled for the end of November, will mark the culmination of long-harboured EU ambitions of forging stronger political and economic links with less-advanced southern Mediterranean countries. As the Union's eastward enlargement draws closer, the meeting will also send a strong signal of the EU's continuing interest and involvement in the future of its southern neighbours.

"The message will be simple: European enlargement is not at the expense of its relations with the Mediterranean. Europe is not turning its back on its partners in the south," explains one Union policy-maker.

There is a caveat, however. For all its determination to build stronger ties with the south - and to keep the Mediterranean dialogue separate from the fluctuating fortunes of the Middle East peace process - the success or failure of the EU's ties with its southern neighbours continues to be conditioned by the wider context of Arab-Israel relations.

Organisation of the long-awaited summit depends on progress in the different 'tracks' for peace between Israel and Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians. Union plans to table a common strategy on the Middle East remain in abeyance, with policy-makers undecided on the usefulness of finalising a EU stance while prospects for progress in Arab-Israeli peace talks remain uncertain.

Others argue, however, that the Union should start preparing now for future peace in the Middle East, including discussions on a future European security role in the region. This, they say, must go hand in hand with efforts to breathe new life into Europe's flagging trade, business and political relationship with the 12 members of the Euro-Med partnership.

Giving a fresh start to the so-called Barcelona process, launched in the Spanish city in November 1995 by the EU and 12 southern Mediterranean ministers, is a priority. The five-year-old partnership is alive and kicking, with meetings being organised almost monthly of academics, energy experts, investment specialists and non-governmental bodies.

Despite the flurry of activity, however, diplomats from both regions agree that the Barcelona process has yet to realise its full potential.

But the last five years have been marked by some successes in the partnership. The intergovernmental forum provided by Barcelona allows countries in the region to discuss a range of political, security, international crime, conflict prevention and other issues which cannot be raised in other fora. For years, the Barcelona process provided the only avenue for contacts between Syria and Israel, and diplomats say Greece and Turkey also used the forum to improve their bilateral relations.

Today, Barcelona's political chapter is making more progress than the economic or cultural provisions, according to experts.

A Charter for Peace and Stability in the Mediterranean is almost ready for adoption by leaders in Marseille. Among other things, the voluntary convention will commit the 27 Barcelona nations to exchanging information on political and security issues. The aim is to build confidence between participants and improve communication between countries which have hitherto had little contact with each other.

There is disappointment, however, at Barcelona's achievements in the economic sector. Arab diplomats point out that the dialogue initially promised southern Mediterranean states the same amount of Union help in economic modernisation and integration into the EU economic space as that being offered to potential candidate nations of eastern and central Europe. "But we have been completely sidelined and this is creating a great sense of frustration," says an Arab diplomat.

Hoping to ease such concerns, Union policy-makers are working on a new strategy for revitalising the trade and economic cooperation chapters of the Barcelona process. The focus is on injecting new momentum into plans to create a Euro-Med free-trade area by 2010 as promised at the dialogue's inaugural ministerial meeting.

EU officials insist that more attention must be paid to encouraging regional economic integration in the southern Mediterranean rather than on promoting traditional north-south flows between the Union and the southern Mediterranean states. The new strategy will therefore focus on ways of boosting 'south-south' exchanges and free trade among the 12 Mediterranean partners.

The creation of a southern Mediterranean common market covering all 12 countries is unlikely in the medium term, but trade experts say the EU can provide help for the establishment of 'sub-regional free trade areas' bringing together countries like Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Jordan which have roughly similar economic and political ideologies.

"Once such first sub-regional integration has taken place, the next step could easily be to cover other nations," explains an Arab diplomat. "It is a step-by-step approach, based on setting and achieving short-term goals."

Meanwhile, insist EU officials, promoting a Euro-Med free-trade area must include

not only action to reduce reciprocal tariffs but also the removal of non-tariff barriers and increased cooperation in areas like public procurement and competition policy. Agriculture, long the most sensitive issue in Euro-Med relations must also be dealt with "squarely", External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten insisted recently.

New provisions to allow the culmination of origin rules for Mediterranean countries are being envisaged to encourage nations to pool their raw materials and value-added inputs on a regional level.

Mediterranean countries are adamant that the focus on free trade must go hand in hand with Union aid for the region's vulnerable economies. "We need help to become more competitive," says an Arab trade official, who argues that EU moves to modernise the Mediterranean will bring pay-offs, with countries in the region becoming more avid consumers of Union services and farm and industrial goods. "We are not talking of charity," he insists. "This is about Europe's economic interest."

Attracting private European investors to the Mediterranean is another challenge. European foreign direct investments in the region represent just 2% of EU global investment flows, underlining the fact that the Mediterranean is a low priority for European businesses. Union trade experts say companies are discouraged by the fragmentation of the Mediterranean markets and high freight expenses which make the cost of shipping a container from Tunis to Marseille higher than transport from Marseille to an Asian port.

Given the economic needs of the Mediterranean, Arab diplomats are adamant that aid to the region must be increased substantially. But that seems unlikely. A total of €5.5 billion was earmarked for Euro-Med cooperation over the last five years, but given rising demands on the EU for Balkans reconstruction efforts, the Commission says spending will only be allowed to rise by 13% between 2000 and 2006.

The disbursement of funds also remains a problem. Arab officials say the blame for the slow distribution of aid lies largely with cumbersome Union procedures for approving aid projects. "All dossiers are examined by a multitude of EU committees," complains a diplomat. "As a result getting access to money for a project can take up to two years."

In parallel to reinforcing the Barcelona process, the Union is looking at the more complicated issue of enhancing its involvement in the wider Middle East peace process. Many in the Middle East see the EU as a 'natural partner' in helping the region to build a new future once peace is finally established. Increasingly also, the Union is seen as a key security player and not just a generous provider of aid.

Diplomats say EU governments have begun reflecting on a future security role in southern Lebanon following the planned withdrawal of Israeli forces as well as a presence in the Golan Heights.

The prospect of playing a security-cum-peace-keeping role in the Middle East is likely to enhance the Union's long-standing claim to be given a stronger voice at the Middle East peace talks.

Major feature. Foreign ministers from the EU and its Mediterranean partners will meet in Lisbon at the end May 2000 to discuss ways of revitalising ties between the two sides, as the Union seeks to reassure countries in the region that the current focus on enlargement does not mean that the EU is turning its back on its southern neighbours.