Addressing shortfalls. Highlighting all that is positive and spectacular in the Arab Spring while at the same time ignoring the issues that have to be resolved and the difficulties to be overcome is the simplest and most convenient way of making everyone happy, when pointing out the difficulties and dangers is often seen as untimely and bad taste (see yesterday's column). The first path produces Bernard-Henry Levy-style pale, vapid panegyrics; the second recognises the courage and worth of those who have chosen freedom and democracy, but without overlooking the traps and shortfalls. It is only by pointing out the difficulties, too, that one helps to address them.
Libyan example. Take as an example the group of MEPs who travelled to Libya, including to the area around Sirte where pro-Gaddafi forces are holding out, to see the situation for themselves, make contact with the local population and assess its needs. The first reaction of Belgian Isabelle Durant, European Parliament Vice-President, was admiration: “People of incredible courage. Civilians full of pride and dignity, too, who had never before held a weapon in their hands, are taking on a professional army and mercenaries. As soon as is possible, schools are re-opened, and food shops operate.” However, she added: “Attempts by the National Transitional Council (NTC) to form a government are deadlocked. There will be tensions between cities over representation in the new government.” Are there extremists on both sides? Answer: “There is certainly a need for vigilance. What is quite frightening is the young people carrying arms virtually everywhere. They are acting in an orderly way but they will have to be returned to civilian life very quickly.”
These self same concerns can be found in the comments of Colonel Abdel Salam Jadalla, who commands the Liberation Army on the Sirte front and who, consequently is in charge of the final push. He believes, however, that he cannot order that push quite simply because “most of my fighters are not soldiers. They are revolutionary civilians with little experience. And they are difficult to control. They are young people whose emotions have got ahead of reflection. If they were allowed to burst into Sirte, there would be a danger of personal accounts being settled and acts of vengeance.”
Other problems and a positive side. Libya is facing other problems, too, such as the black mercenaries who continue to fight for Gaddafi, in part, because they are afraid of what might be in store for them if they surrender, or are trying desperately to get back to their own countries. Some are trying to reach the Italian coast, along with women and children, under the most terrible conditions contrived deliberately by Gaddafi in order to have as many as possible shipwrecked so as to create difficulties for Italy. These are not voluntary departures: women and children are forced onto vessels, their lives of no consequence to Gaddafi whose sole objective is vengeance.
Libya at least has one positive going for it: it does not have to face financial difficulty. This is for two reasons: (a) oil production has been re-started, several European countries have shown interest and the quality is excellent; (b) billions of dollars, euro and other currencies (to which can be added tonnes of gold) are gradually being unfrozen, wealth which Colonel Gaddafi deposited in banks around the world. According to financial circles, there is $37 billion in the United States alone!
A comprehensive programme needed. However, for others taking part in the Arab Spring, in particular Tunisia, there is no lack of financial problems! The EU is correct in not wanting to separate out the financial side of things, preferring to keep it within the broad context covering various areas and also involving those Mediterranean countries which are moving towards reform without necessarily changing regime. The aim is to establish cooperation that involves efforts and commitments based on one principle: there can be no economic development without political progress. Among the objectives are: (a) consolidation of democracy with free elections and a constitution; (b) trade cooperation operating on both directions; (c) support for sustainable innovation and funding for tangible projects through the European Investment Bank (EIB) and other bodies that can monitor the realisation and operation of the projects. All of this is under discussion, our newsletter regularly reports on it.
A real danger. What has to be avoided is replication of institutions, of bureaucracy and conferences, with the appointment of leading figures to duplicative and useless posts. Several indicators suggest that this is a very definite danger which is already becoming a reality to which this column will return.
(FR/transl.rt)