Brussels, 12/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - The extraordinary meeting in Brussels on 8 November of the EuroMediterranean parliamentary forum, convened by Nicole Fontaine, President of the EP, and Abdelouahed Radhi, President of the Moroccan chamber of representatives, enabled (as we have already reported, see EUROPE of 10 November, p.4) MEPs and MPs from the twenty-seven countries involved in the Barcelona Process to discuss the 11 September attacks. They stressed the need for an across-the-board effort to reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings and misinterpretations. Libya, Mauritania and the Arab League attended the meeting as observers.
The final declaration expressed solidarity with the people and the government of the United States, and with all other victims across the world of the barbarity of terrorism. The forum stated that all actions undertaken to eradicate terrorism have to be targeted in such a way as to avoid hurting innocent civilians, and noted the close relations between international terrorism and other scourges like organised crime, drugs and arms trafficking, money laundering and corruption. It hoped that an international conference would be organised on terrorism, and that the countries in the Barcelona Process would cooperate on an ad hoc basis, categorically reject any attempt to equate Islam with terrorism and pledge to strengthen dialogue between different cultures in all their forms. It called for mutual understanding to be promoted between different cultures, for attention to be paid to developing education systems and youth training programmes (in the form of exchanges and courses in written and other media, in particular) and recommended that large-scale mechanisms and programmes be prepared to promote women in society. The declaration stressed that the Barcelona Process would be the essential instrument of choice for dialogue and co-operation between the EU and countries on the south and east coasts of the Mediterranean, and for its relaunch to lead the way in contributing to the peace process in the Middle East. They also hoped that the red tape would be cut away and that deputies would take a more active role.
Opening the meeting, Nicole Fontaine said that bearing in mind the transnational nature of crimes like the 11 September attacks, the EP was proposing that a United Nations international conference be organised. Abdelouahed Radhi said that it was vital to deal with the deeper causes of evil with courage, lucidity and clear-sightedness. He felt that the Barcelona Process would remain blocked as long as the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories continued. The President of the Commission, Romano Prodi, and the High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana, both stressed that understanding and dialogue had to be promoted at government and also civil society level, while Amr Moussa, the Secretary General of the Arab League, stressed his organisation's commitment to mobilising intellectuals against any confusion between terrorism and Islam.
Virtually all speakers condemned terrorism and highlighted the need to build up understanding and dialogue, through concrete initiatives focussing on the role of civil society, women, young people and migrants, for example. Mr Pöttering, speaking for the EPP, spoke about nipping terrorism in the bud; Mr Baron for the PES talked about acting together and ruling out any idea of a religious war; Mr Wurtz for the UEL talked about a formidable coalition including countries from the Islamic conference, while warning of the danger of falling into the terrorists' trap of talking about a "clash of civilisations". Some speakers, however, spoke against the grain, such as the Alleanza Nazionale MEP, Sebastiano Musumeci, who said that the war of civilisations was a fact, adding that Sicily (where he came from) bore witness to the fact that the Mediterranean was not a meeting place but a frontier with poverty and intolerance on one side and prosperity and freedom on the other. Konstaninos Alyssandrakis (UEL, Greece) slammed the "state terrorism" of the United States and Israel, and called on Muslims to refuse to join the anti-terrorist coalition. Sami Nair (PES, France) mentioned the fact that most of the countries or individuals that are opposed to the US are former US allies, adding that there were genuine political and cultural conflicts between the West and Islam but there was no connection with terrorism, but that the problems were not cultural but political and Washington should open its eyes to the impact of its policies round the globe. The French Green Alima Boumediene-Thiery said that the Barcelona Process had broken down and that the Association Agreements had to be revised since they favoured the EU.