Brussels, 16/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 11 June, the Anna Lindh Foundation for dialogue between cultures in the Mediterranean adopted a roadmap in Brussels. The originality of this roadmap is that it is long term - finishing in 2025. Questioned by EUROPE, the Foundation's president, Elisabeth Guigou, who is also the chair of the foreign affairs committee in the French National Assembly, describes the state of play on Euro-Mediterranean policy and the “failure” of the European neighbourhood policy (ENP). The Anna Lindh Foundation is based in Alexandria (Egypt) and has a common Euro-Mediterranean structure.
This roadmap proposes a series of actions and projects focusing on young people and their integration into society and economic activity. It also promotes “young people's social entrepreneurship” based on solidarity. In addition, the roadmap recommends other areas of focus - women's rights, climate change (“a harbinger of war”) and energy. Various meetings have been scheduled ahead of the global climate conference in Paris in December. The Foundation plans to coordinate actions for the Mediterranean and to support ad hoc cooperation. By way of example, Guigou mentions UNESCO, the Arab World Institute and the Arab League - as well as the cultural institutes of the member countries of the Euro-Mediterranean process. The objective is to promote the role of civil society and to increase its “visibility”.
The Foundation's primary role, however, is to strengthen cultural understanding - which, Guigou states, is useful given the current context. “Created ten years ago, the [Anna Lindh] Foundation is an instrument for dialogue between cultures and for fighting ignorance”. It is thus said to be “the best tool for fighting the radicalisation observed on both sides of the Mediterranean”. Guigou states that “crises have multiplied on both sides of the Mediterranean”, including “the economic crisis with its social repercussions”. She also takes note of the “common phenomena - the rise in xenophobia and the rise in radicalisation. Both in the north and in the south, societies are increasingly closing in on themselves with the crisis. We can see that misunderstanding is on the rise, and the rejection of others. This must be fought - politically and by citizens. Nothing can replace cultural exchanges because we don't fight each other when we know and understand each other”, Guigou says, calling on the EU to be watchful. And from this point of view, the review of the ENP offers a good opportunity for this, and it is important to review it fully, she says, because “it has not fulfilled its objectives”.
The ENP review “comes at a good time because it's a failure. I will submit a written contribution in the coming days” in order to set this judgment out in detail. Guigou adds that the ENP is already a failure “for the countries of Eastern Europe [because] it was supposed to be an alternative to enlargement, but in the end it is not”. And for the countries in the south, “it was supposed to bring real answers to all sorts of development issues - economic, social, health and educational. We are a long way from this. We used to speak about 'rings of friends' but is has rather become a 'ring of crises'.
Guigou says that “this policy must be fundamentally reviewed and, first of all, a distinction must be made between 'neighbourhood' and 'enlargement'. On an administrative level, I can understand that the European institutions want to keep a single framework - but these are not the same issues. And then, for both, an interest needs to be taken in the neighbours close by, of course, but also in the 'neighbours' neighbours'. When we take an interest in Eastern Europe and Ukraine, we need to think of Russia. For the south, sub-Saharan African needs to be considered. The Sahara is no longer a border and this on all levels. Our partnership's geographical extent needs to be opened up. The south of the Mediterranean has become central because the Sahara is not a border.” In Guigou's opinion, “the method needs to be changed. Federica Mogherini has understood this. It's no longer enough for the EU to put papers on the table and say 'yes' or 'no'. We need to build the whole [ENP] starting from the real requests of society, based on technology-sharing and on increased investment - because more and more southern countries are investing in the north”.
Is there a lack of strategic perspective? “It's important to underline that there are no accession perspectives - even for the eastern countries. I'm not in favour of indefinite enlargement. What's needed is a political dialogue” which “for the moment is only bilateral [although] it needs to be global” and “must also be between the countries themselves. They need to establish common positions in order to hold a dialogue with Europe. We imagined this dialogue between the governments. We must enlarge it to civil societies, to associations and unions.”
In Guigou's view, illegal immigration is another source of misunderstanding and must be taken into consideration. “The most important thing is to fight the traffickers together who are targeting people's misery. But going and bombing them… I don't think that's the best way to do it. We need to attack the root causes - the insecurity and the misery. Maginot lines don't work”, Guigou states (our translation throughout). (Fathi B'Chir)