Brussels, 05/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - MEP Rachida Dati (EPP, France) has called for the Maghrebi process of integration to be supported while negotiations are under way for convening a summit of the five countries - a summit which is unlikely to happen because of continued differences between Algeria and Morocco on the conditions for opening their borders. Nonetheless, Dati has taken positive note of Morocco's statement according to which “the relaunch of the Arab Maghreb Union is a 'strategic necessity'”. “In Europe, our duty is to support this initiative”, the former French justice minister believes, for whom “the EU has been too absent” in its support to the “democratic movements and visionary reforms recently started in this region of the world”. And she added: “Don't let's miss our turn again! Without any further delay, let's offer political support, diplomatic support and logistic aid to the countries which want to build this area of peace and prosperity only a few kilometres from our borders.”
In Dati's opinion, “a strong AMU” would be “a privileged interlocutor and a strong ally for the EU in the development of the Union for the Mediterranean, a guarantee of our future and our common prosperity”. And the AMU “could be a powerful instrument at the service of stability in the whole of the Arab world, through the search for solutions in serious conflicts, in fighting against opposition to knowledge or against terrorism, and also by bringing political and logistic support to the nascent democracies.” (FB/transl.fl)