Lisbon, 25/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - The informal session of Euro-Mediterranean ministerial dialogue opened on Thursday evening, preceded by a meeting of senior officials. The objective is to get the Barcelona process out of the disillusionment and standstill into which it has slipped. The Europeans deny the accusation that the difficulties are due to the ill-functioning of the MEDA programme; on the contrary, its use of credits is better than for other programmes. The difficulties reside instead in the obstacles to the Middle East peace process and delays in the conclusion of EU bilateral agreements with Mediterranean third countries. For the Europeans, another major obstacle is the lack of co-operation between the Mediterranean third countries themselves; the European Ministers will no doubt insist on this aspect, considered essential for creating a Euro-Mediterranean common market.
The meeting is also expected to lead to progress in defining the basic concepts of a security policy and new guidelines for co-operation in social affairs and justice.