Brussels, 25/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - A summit of countries from both sides of the western Mediterranean is to be held in Malta on 5 and 6 October. Within the informal “5+5” structure, five European countries - Malta, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal - come together with five Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) countries - Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania. Attendance by several heads of state is announced and the EU is invited to attend the meeting, the first since the upheavals that changed the political and security landscape of the southern Mediterranean rim.
Themes tackled will relate to security in the region, economic stability, regional integration, the environment and immigration. In preparation for the summit, a meeting of foreign ministers was held in Rome in February this year, attended by Stefan Füle, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy. In Rome, the decision had been taken to strengthen “5+5” Dialogue by improving working methods, interaction with the other cooperation forums in the region, and by consolidating all aspects of dialogue between the ten countries. Ministers had also urged the international community and the European Union in particular to provide the necessary support for the southern rim countries, whose fate depends on resuming economic development and the creation of new and numerous jobs. After having evoked all the political, economic and financial issues concerning their zone, they had adopted the Algerian proposal to convene the Conference of Foreign Ministers on a regular annual basis. They also agreed to extend their dialogue to other areas of cooperation, such as food safety, energy, trade, justice, agriculture, the training of diplomatic agents and the involvement of civil societies and local authorities.
The aim of the summit will be to encourage cooperation and understanding in all spheres, either at bilateral level or by involving the EU in programmes for that region. The group of countries, which does not envisage separate structures or action, sees itself as a dynamic force within the comprehensive Euro-Mediterranean Dialogue, and especially within the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM). A single summit has been held to date, in Tunis in 2003, when resumption of the consultation framework began with participation by the European Commission president at the time, Romano Prodi of Italy. His successor, José Manuel Barroso is said to be on the list of those invited to the Malta summit.
The Tunis summit gave momentum to renewed activity after this had been placed on the back burner further to Algerian-Moroccan differences over the Sahara. Created in 1990, the consultation group did not include Malta. It was only at the second ministerial meeting, in Algiers, that the “5+4” group had become the “5+5”, and consultation is currently under way for possible enlargement to Egypt and probably also to Greece to make it a “6+6” group. There is reluctance, however, and the need to safeguard the specificity of the western Mediterranean has always meant that there has been opposition to Egypt's insistent demands. The question is not (yet) said to be on the agenda for discussion in Malta but, as the former foreign minister and former deputy prime minister of Malta (1996-98), George Vella, intimated to Agence Europe, he would not be surprised if the issue were tackled, given that the agenda is constantly changing. Vella states he is in favour of enlargement, saying it would be “more representative” in relation to the EU.
The former leader of Malta, who is currently a member of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA), takes the view that it is a “good thing” to have a group acting within the UfM. He hopes that the reluctance shown by the countries of North Africa to commit themselves to the UfM, as clearly demonstrated in the past, will not extend to this informal framework. Furthermore, Vella calls for coordination between the national parliaments of the ten countries concerned. (FB/transl.jl)