Brussels, 10/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - “The way Europe looks at the other shore of the Mediterranean will never be the same again”, writes Pierre Defraigne, Executive Director of the Madariaga Foundation, College of Europe, in a piece published in La Libre Belgique of 5 March 2011.
“The Euro-Mediterranean alliance has, up until now, been one of money grabbing and fear. Despotic and corrupt regimes, incapable of fair development, took for themselves the support of the West, because of their oil, their ambivalence towards Israel - vilified but not attacked - and their repression of Islam on the pretext of countering terrorism. The Barcelona Process … has failed.” Following an assessment of the vain efforts to finance reform, his conclusion is that “the Community money has been spent. The reforms have not materialised. For too long, member states have neutralised EU efforts, in the name of their bilateral interests. Today, the EU must take charge again, because Europe and the Mediterranean share a common destiny in the face of globalisation”. “From now on, the EU will not have to buy reforms. Because the peoples are demanding them.” (F.B./transl.rt)