Brussels, 01/12/2003 (Agence Europe) - The ten heads of State of the western Mediterranean countries (France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia) are to meet in Tunis on 5 and 6 December. They will approve a formal declaration affirming their commitment to show solidarity and co-operate in fields related to security policy and stability in their region, and for greater concertation in the fight against human trafficking networks (non-controlled migration) and terrorism, a subject which is top of the list of future common concerns.
For the host country, Tunisia, this first meeting at the highest level, two days after the EU-Mediterranean Countries ministerial conference (Barcelona process) in Naples, is an "important stage" which will allow the informal "5+5" dialogue to get started properly, having been initiated in the early 90s in Rome, and relaunched in January 2001. The "summit" will seal these countries' willingness to face up to problems which concern them in particular, such as the fight against illegal migratory flows, terrorism and reducing the development gap between the two shores. The countries taking part plan to build their economic co-operation to support the Maghreb integration process, and also to tackle cultural co-operation in order to establish greater understanding between either side of the Mediterranean. Four ministerial meetings- in Lisbon in January 2001, Tripoli in May 2002, St Maxim in April 2003, and finally, Paris on 29 October- allowed the text of the "Tunis Declaration", which will serve as a Charter for joint action, to be modified.
For their first "summit", the "5+5" invited President Romano Prodi and the High Representative for Foreign Policy, Javier Solana, to Tunis. Up until now, the European institutions have almost never been involved in this dialogue between neighbours, which is developing alongside the Barcelona process in a context in which the latter is gradually losing interest, is held up by the faltering peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine and the difficulty it has had in giving it any substance, especially in its political and security plank. The working methods, which are "not very co-operative" and which have not been accepted by the partner countries, are a further obstacle, and more is being done towards "à la carte" co-operation, along the lines of European "reinforced co-operation", initially concentrating on the three central States of North Africa. The fact that the Barcelona process is slowing down goes hand in hand with the growing importance of the "neighbourhood" policy initiated by president Prodi, the management of which is given over to the Commission's services under the authority of Günter Verheugen (Enlargement Commissioner). In the context of enlargement, this principle aims to get the Mediterranean countries, Russia and its former European satellites (which are not eligible to join the EU) as closely involved as possible in all non-institutional fields. With this in mind, specific co-operation is being set up with the Mediterranean countries under CFSP (security and defence). High-level meetings took place at the end of October to identify the possible scope of this co-operation on subjects which are dealt with inside three different frameworks, in the "5+5", in the "Euromediterranean Forum", which brings together eleven countries of the Mediterranean basin (Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Malta, Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco), whose work will be used as a reference in future Barcelona process negotiations, and lastly, as part of the existing dialogue between these countries and NATO. Consultations carried out in the fields of security and the fight against terrorism, took place between the organisation and each of the Mediterranean countries.
For all member countries, the "5+5" dialogue is not "in competition" with that of the EU and all its neighbour countries, but adds to it, as it adds to the various attempts at sub-regional dialogue being carried out in parallel, despite the risks of multiplying the frameworks for concertation between the neighbouring countries.