Brussels, 27/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - Speaking in Tunis on Tuesday 26 July, new Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Secretary General Youssef Amrani, who has begun a tour of the member countries to try to breathe new life into the organisation, called for an “optimistic partnership” among the countries bordering on the Mediterranean.
“The countries of the Southern Mediterranean must develop a partnership where there is greater solidarity”, and should follow the shift to democracy that has been taking place in Tunisia, particularly at a time when the EU is looking for new means of communication with neighbouring countries, Amrani is reported by the Tunisian press agency as saying. He called on the EU to adapt to the changes taking place in the Southern Mediterranean region, as it did after the fall of the Berlin Wall, especially as it shares with the countries of the south the values of human rights and solidarity.
He said he understood the constraints illegal emigration brings but that treating it as a security issue was not the solution. Illegal emigration “requires a comprehensive approach which seeks, above all, to provide real and lasting opportunities for development”. (F.B./transl.rt)