Brussels, 20/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - During his visit to France, and to Marseilles in particular, where he spoke of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation, the Tunisian president, Moncef Marzouki, expressed doubt about the UfM (Union for the Mediterranean) and its immediate advantages. This same subject was brought up during his meetings in Paris with the French head of state, who also stated his intention to reopen the dossier in a different way to what was done in the past (see EUROPE 10658).
In statements to the media of the region of Provence, Marzouki thus confirmed his country's choice for cooperation centred more on the western Mediterranean. “The UfM, yes, I believe in it but not before 10, 20 or 30 years”, he said. He finds the notion of an UfM interesting although seeing it as a very long term project, saying it cannot be built by ignoring the differences between countries or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Neither can it become a union between dictatorships and democracies, as regimes that are dissimilar cannot unite.
Moncef Marzouki's preference lies in enhanced cooperation between countries of the western Mediterranean basin in the context of the “5+5” (five countries of the EU, Malta, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal and the five members of the Arab Maghreb Union, AMU - Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania) whose foreign ministers are to meet in Malta in October. The “5+5” can be immediately re-launched with the engagement of “democratic political regimes”, he said. This, he believes, should facilitate the task in the discussion and advancement of joint, feasible projects such as the projects relating to pollution of the Mediterranean.
The Tunisian president takes the view that there is no rivalry between the UfM and the “5+5”. The latter can play the same role for the UfM as that played by Benelux in the construction of Europe. “We should”, says Marzouki, “set in place a hard core, the 5+5, to be joined by the states as and when appropriate”. (FB/transl.jl)