Brussels, 29/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - FEMISE, the Euro-Mediterranean network of economic institutes of the countries on both sides of the Mediterranean, devoted its annual meeting 2010 in Rome on 23 and 24 November to “structural transformation and the role of EU-Med partnership” in achieving reform. On Monday 29 November, in Marseilles, FEMISE is also expected to make public a study carried out in cooperation with the EIB (European Investment Bank) and FEMIP (Euro-Mediterranean facility for partnership and investment) on the theme of the crisis and ways to address the crisis in FEMIP Mediterranean partner countries.
Prior to the debates in Rome, FEMISE affirms that the associated Mediterranean countries of the southern rim have sought during the past few decades to reform and diversify their economies in order to come into line with standards applied in advanced European countries and elsewhere. The EuroMed partnership was designed to help the structural transformation process in these countries to be speeded up to the benefit of both sides. Unfortunately, experience has shown that only moderate progress has been made. Most studies agree to say that the positive, albeit modest, effects were partly limited by the fact that agreements have not yet been completely implemented throughout. The studies encompassed structural reform programmes, industrial policies and crisis exit polices. On this subject, FEMISE considers that the southern rim countries will overcome the upheavals of the past couple of years without injury - all the more as their “limited financial integration” has protected them from the full impact of the crisis. (F.B./transl.jl)