Brussels 19/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - In a communication that it adopted on Wednesday 19 December, the European Commission put forward a range of different actions to be taken to help implement the EU-Maghreb cooperation strategy.
This new European strategy seeks to be “ambitious” and is aimed at enhancing the political dialogue, particularly in defence and security matters, human rights and democratisation. This approach will involve greater co-operation between the EU and regional organisations and initiatives such as the Union du Maghreb Arabe and the “5+5” group (a forum bringing together ten countries involved in the Eastern Mediterranean), particularly with regard to the, “implementation of the EU-Africa strategy and tackling instability in the Sahel- Saharan region”.
Emphasis on energy cooperation. The communication proposes to step up sectoral cooperation, mainly in the transport, energy, trade, social development, marine policy, environment, cultural and human development areas. Energy cooperation will be promoted because this is, “a domain where integration of the Maghreb area could have benefits both for partner countries and, in the long-term, for the EU, by paving the way to exports of electricity from renewable sources in the Maghreb to the EU”. The services of Catherine Ashton, High Representative for the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, stated that they were proposing concrete European support to Maghreb countries to build this common electricity market.
The other priorities set out include “the development of relations between civil society organisations in Maghreb countries”, which has the advantage of these countries themselves being able to identify, “tools for supporting political transition and how best to ensure that governments are accountable to their people”. The EU therefore appears prepared to, “support the construction and development of these organisational networks, as well as non-governmental bodies, such as those bringing together business leaders and trade unionists”.
The EU considers that enhancing regional cooperation between Maghreb countries is a means of providing another building block in the stability that the European Union is seeking to support. Ashton explained that the Maghreb is effectively one of the least integrated regions on the planet and that several studies have demonstrated that greater integration could help increase the wealth of all of these countries by 1% to 2% a year. She added that Europe's experience had proved that economies, even similar ones, can benefit from the opening up of borders and developing trade. She concluded that regional integration required adaptation efforts but that the EU was convinced that this would bring significant benefits to the whole region as well as to the EU. (FB/transl.fl)