Brussels, 22/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - Within the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), “the task is becoming ever more difficult given the global crisis that is affecting our region”, admitted UfM Secretary General Youssef Amrani in an interview published on “Etudes européennes”, a news site developed jointly by the French Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA) and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Strasbourg, with the support of the Pôle Européen d'Administration Publique (PEAP). He remains “optimistic” however, because, he said, “despite all the current difficulties we are working on new foundations as the present regional situation is exceptional and we are working with partners who listen to us and who are ready to support us”.
“The Euro-Mediterranean partnership, incarnated in the UfM, which many see as an empty shell, a still-born baby, or whatever, has just demonstrated how forward-looking this initiative is, given that, in 2008, no one believed there would be democratic transition processes in the Arab world”, Amrani said. He points out: “Today, this is a region on the move, so we have to be able to support it in this phase. From a political point of view, we will have to wait to find out who the new players will be, no matter who the citizens choose”. He says he is ready to work with these new players, to assist them through “tangible, visible projects that will have a socio-economic impact on the people”.
The new situation in the region “should lead us to work together to bring more effectiveness in the, mainly European, regional initiatives aimed at the neighbours to the south which form part of the regional dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and the UfM, as the unifying body for these regional initiatives for the 43 Euro-Mediterranean countries”. Amrani says that resolution of the Israel-Palestinian issue “will improve conditions for building the common Mediterranean area of stability and prosperity”.
In conclusion, he stated that “history will note that there is 'a pre- and a post-2011'. The movements and the demonstrations for freedom in the Arab world have brought the world two main lessons. Firstly, these countries have still little-used, but considerable, reserves: I am speaking about the human potential which is made up of a large young population (over 100 million) that has shown its thirst and its desire for involvement in the democratic processes in their countries. The second lesson is that today's world is more inter-dependent than ever, and lives to the beat of the moment, like one, single body”. (FB/transl.rt)