Brussels, 28/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini has confessed to Euro-Mediterranean civil society organisations that she does not like the word “neighbourhood” - the term which was launched just over ten years ago and is currently used to describe the EU's policy towards third countries that are close to it. The reason for her dislike of the term is that it does not sufficiently reflect an approach that should be balanced and equal in the EU's relationship with the countries both of Eastern Europe and of the southern shore of the Mediterranean.
Civil society organisations were meeting in Brussels at the joint initiative of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the Committee of the Regions (CoR) in order to reflect openly and publicly on the European neighbourhood policy that the European Commission has undertaken to review - or simply touch up, as some partner countries and civil society representatives fear.
“Each time I see the word 'neighbourhood' I want to cross it out of my speeches”, Mogherini confessed, seeing it as striking up a sort of distance that goes against the spirit of a true partnership. The time has now come “to listen to you, to learn directly from you, to advise us on what can be improved and also on what has been done well and deserves to be continued”, she said during her opening speech for the two days of consultations.
Mogherini thus made a call not to separate “the EU on one side from the partners on the other”. Neither did she want a separation between the EU and civil society. “We are together”, she said, making a reference to her own experience in politics and associations. In her view, the approach should now be based “on youth, education and creating jobs because a strong civil society enables extremism to be fought”. “The quality of our democracies [in Europe] also needs to be improved”, she said, referring implicitly to the issue of migration currently shaking member states.
In short, Mogherini says that responses to the common challenges will have to be collective. However, there is a need for “strong partners to be able to strengthen our partnership”. There is also a need “to recognise our limits”, she said, stating that she “dares say so because [she's] not a diplomat”. Mogherini acknowledged that the criticism is not totally unfounded of a Europe that is “bureaucratic, moralising and prescriptive”. She also acknowledged that this “feeling is shared in Brussels” and is more “a problem of method than of substance”.
The conclusion is that “our approach needs to be amended”. The question of “how” will probably be embarked upon over the two days of debates, which were kicked off by Henri Malosse, the president of the EESC. In his opening speech, Malosse reinforced Mogherini's doubts about the validity of the European neighbourhood policy.
“I'm against”, he said straightaway, stating that he had always supported this idea when speaking to those from other European institutions, especially the former commissioner for enlargement and neighbourhood policy, Stefan Füle who, in Malosse's view, did not listen to the EESC enough.
Malosse nevertheless thanked Mogherini for coming - and for her attitude which contrasted that of her predecessor Catherine Ashton, who never visited the EESC, he said. “The economic and social committees did not exist in the Mediterranean policy”, he stated, recalling the ongoing efforts to create a Euro-Mediterranean economic and social committee or an economic and social group from the whole region. A meeting of these Euro-Mediterranean structures recently took place in Marseille and an “agreement of mutual cooperation has been signed”, he said. The EU should target the “true actors, not those that pay visits or act as consultants”, but the “sustainable actors, not those looking for a deadweight effect”.
Malosse also claimed non-diplomat status in order to speak the truth because “the language of diplomacy is unproductive”, he said, calling for an end to be put to “condescension”. In same vein, he said he thought that “the last ten years have been wasted for Mediterranean cooperation. A fresh boost is needed”. Malosse therefore advocates stronger “decentralised cooperation” in order to correct the wrongdoing and “to work together”.
Markku Markkula, the president of the CoR, spoke along the same lines saying that it was necessary to move from “theory to practice”. He too hailed Mogherini's attitude of having made such a diagnosis of this policy. He wanted the local and regional authorities to be more involved and for the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly to have “more competences”. In Markkula's view, “the reforms [to be started] must focus on the governance and sustainable development of the territories, on the circular economy” and on better “identification of the needs”. He advocated a regional approach which “must cross all horizontal policies” and the promotion of “macro-regions” on both sides of the Mediterranean.
European Parliament President Martin Schulz, who briefly attended the start of the debating session, gave a general reminder of the role that civil society must play. The executive director of the Anna Lindh Foundation described the foundation's actions for youth and civil society. (Fathi B'Chir)