Brussels, 27/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - The 7th EuroMed ministerial conference will be held on 30 and 31 May in Luxembourg under the chairmanship of Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg Foreign Minister, and with the participation of his colleagues from the EU and the 10 partner countries (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Israel and Turkey), with Libya as a guest country and Mauritania as observer, as well as the European Commission, the High Representative for CFSP, and representatives of the EuroMed parliamentary assembly (currently chaired by Josep Borrell), the EIB, the Arab League and the UMA, also as observers. The ministerial session will be preceded on Sunday by meetings of senior officials that will have the task of fine-tuning a final joint declaration if talks on the various chapters of the text are successful, otherwise a European unilateral declaration in the form of presidency conclusions. The recent preparatory meeting in Brussels (EUROPE 8953) showed that there is still some divergence, mainly on the political chapter. Nonetheless, a Community source says, points of view would not be “diametrically opposed”. The demands of partner countries would be more on the joint nature of dialogue to be established and on taking into account the “specificities” of each and everyone. This should result in a consensus on a more direct role for the civil societies, systematic observation of the electoral processes and great attention for the freedom of expression of the media. Generally speaking, the dialogue would comprise a persuasive accompaniment for the effort that each country is invited to make regarding democracy and human rights.
The session will be essentially devoted to the celebration, this November in Barcelona, of the 10th anniversary of the EuroMed process, probably in the presence of the Heads of State and Government. With a view to this “summit”, the EU and its ten partners will make a comprehensive assessment of this policy and should adopt the broad lines for future cooperation and give the Commission and the committee of senior officials the go-ahead for setting out the details of practical measures. The first exercise, the analysis of what has been achieved so far, will be carried out on the basis of a report - albeit mitigated - already drawn up by the Commission but which does not cast doubt either on the interest or on the achievements, as it stressed in its press release in April. In this communication, the Commission proposes an action plan for the next five years geared to reform and above all suggests that a Euro-Mediterranean conference on human rights and democratisation be held in 2006, prepared at sub-regional level. The report was also fuelled by various contributions from member States (essentially Germany and the future British presidency), the APEM (EuroMed Parliamentary Assembly), partner countries and external bodies (Euromesco for political aspects and Femise for economic chapters). The EU's Neighbourhood Policy will also be examined. According to Community sources, the ministers will seek to give more substance to this new policy that the European Commission presents as a complement rather than as a replacement for the Barcelona process. At the present time, only Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority finalised the “action plans” concerning them. Morocco is approving its plan (delay would be put down to revising the translation) and Tunisia seems hesitant, but the official thesis is that internal consultations must first of all carry out internal consultations. Egypt would be more than reserved and its representative, during the last preparatory meeting in Brussels, was highly critical, thus expressing more clearly than the other countries of the region clear reserve to establishing a “political conditionality” to the granting of financial support.
On the whole, preparatory discussions lead to the triggering of consensus for intensifying political dialogue, in order to accelerate the move towards integration of the countries of the southern and eastern rim in the European internal market and, by way of accompaniment, the promise of a “substantial” rise in financial means through a new Neighbourhood Policy, that will replace MEDA in the context of the financial perspectives 2007-2013. The financial aid will, according to Commission sources, be allocated as a priority to support for political, economic and administrative reforms, which are, moreover, the aims assigned to the “action plans” per country conceived in the Neighbourhood Policy. However, the Commission should convince partner countries of the reliability of this two-level approach (bilateral and general). The partner countries openly express their perplexity about what they see as a multilateral slide towards what is “bilateral”. According to Community sources, their fears would be more motivated by the refusal to commit themselves to a formula where financial support would be assured depending on political “merit”.
The programme for the future also aims at improving the host framework of foreign investment. Also, the Commission suggests cooperation to support the creation of jobs and sustainable economic growth for trade liberalisation and regional integration, and envisages liberalisation of services, on which, however, partner countries are relatively reserved. Ministers will examine the various actions proposed for the next five years in all the areas of cooperation (energy, transport, education, environment, etc.). A particular point is to be retained: the resolve shown to give more visibility to the partnership not only within the EU but also in partner countries and to make 2005 the “Year of the Mediterranean”, the Commission says.