Brussels, 29/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 27 April, the EU and Egypt met in Luxembourg for the sixth meeting of the Association Council under the joint chairmanship of Ahmad Aboul Gheit and Miguel Angel Moratinos. The meeting was attended by the European commissioner for enlargement and neighbourhood policy, Stefan Füle, and the Egyptian minister for international cooperation, Faiza Abulnagua. The ministers and the commissioner said during their final press conference that they were very pleased with the bilateral cooperation resulting from the agreement of association, neighbourhood policy and Euro-Mediterranean regional cooperation. Moratinos said the meeting was a success and that it had taken place at an important time given the scope of the ambitious plans to enhance relations between the EU and Egypt, and also to Egypt's playing an active role in achieving peace and stability in the Middle East. An EU-Egypt summit will be held on 6 June, in Barcelona, shortly before that envisaged with all the member states of the UfM (Union for the Mediterranean). This summit, said Faiza Abulnagua, should seal the resolve to establish an “enhanced partnership”, a sort of “advanced status”, which, here too, should result in Egypt's greater involvement in Community programmes and funds. European Commissioner Füle underlined the fact that the Lisbon Treaty gives new bases for cooperation. He drew a detailed picture of the areas in which the EU-Egyptian partnership could be deployed in all its political and parliamentary, economic and financial dimensions, and with a view to greater liberalisation. Stefan Füle sees such occasions as an opportunity to “rationalise” neighbourhood policy, although he did not say more about his intentions in this respect.
Peace in the Middle East was the focus of the talks on the sidelines and during the session as such. Egypt and the EU both felt that “peace is needed urgently and cannot wait”, Morationos said, recalling that the 20th anniversary of the Madrid Peace Conference is near and “we have to move forward as quickly as possible to achieve a two-state solution, to give hope for the future of the entire region”. Discussion also turned to the situation in Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and in the Arab region in general.
Both parties also spoke of the prospect of the Euro-Mediterranean summit to be held the same month, Moratinos said, not wishing to specify the date of 7 June initially announced given the increasing political uncertainties. He said better political conditions were needed in order for the summit to be a success.
On this question, he said that “we are working with the Quartet, with Egypt and with other Arab countries to support US government initiatives for a swift revival of indirect Arab-Israeli negotiations”. The EU is, in this context, “a major player in supporting the Palestinian prime minister” and the creation of a Palestinian state, Moratinos added. He awaits the next Euro-Mediterranean summit to approve “a political declaration and an action plan for coming years, as well as evaluating the four large projects approved in Paris in 2008 on solar energy, sea highways, SMEs and the environment”. (F.B./transl.jl)