Brussels, 17/01/2000 (Agence Europe) - EU senior officials responsible for the Barcelona Process are meeting on Tuesday to prepare the next meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean follow-up committee, on 9 and 10 February. They will overview the evolution of dialogue and will also tackle the case of Libya, whose candidacy for full membership to the process has now been made, although it still gives rise to some problems and, it would appear, some reticence.
The Libyan government has pledged in writing to accept the principles of Barcelona as well as the acquis of the process, but adds several remarks which bring an element of ambiguity into its commitment (see EUROPE of 12 January, p.5). It is necessary to shed some light on this before the Euro-Mediterranean meeting, if one hopes to prevent the Libyan candidature coming up against opposition. Contacts have been initiated at diplomatic level in Tripoli to dissipate any misunderstandings. It is not to be ruled out that, on Tuesday, the EU15 senior officials will have received clarification from Libya.
The meeting of senior officials was preceded, last Friday, by a meeting of EU experts which did not discuss the "political" problem of Libya but which took stock of the situation on the evolution of the Euro-Mediterranean process and the different projects of regional cooperation envisaged. They thus gave their agreement to the launching of the Euro-Mediterranean problem for promoting the information society (MEDIS). Calls for tender for the commitment of pilot projects will be published in the near future.
They also tackled the matter of cooperation in the energy sector (an action plan is being launched) and transport (under preparation), and decided to launch a call for bids in the field of the environment (action programme SMAP) and water management. They also noted a project presented by France to establish a code of ethics in police cooperation between the EU and Mediterranean partners.