Brussels, 09/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - EU foreign affairs ministers from ten member states neighbouring or close to the Mediterranean (France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria) met on 5-6 July in Koper, Slovenia, to focus on Euro-Mediterranean policy. At the end of the work, the Slovenian foreign minister, Dmitri Rupel, hosting the meeting, summed up the meeting results: - European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP): “We reiterated the importance of ENP and expressed our support for a balanced approach” by actively involving in this way all the Mediterranean countries, as well as Central and Eastern Europe in a dialogue on subjects of common interest, such as economic integration, energy, transport, migration, intercultural dialogue etc. Rupel also said: “We have agreed to further develop the 'Black Sea Synergy Initiative' as part of strengthened ENP. To this end, full cooperation between the EU and 'Black Sea Economic Cooperation', as well as other regional initiatives is necessary”. Ministers taking part in the Koper meeting also decided that senior officials from their countries would meet at the end of July in Madrid to elaborate common proposals for the “Working together - Strengthening the European Neighbourhood Policy” conference that the European Commission is organising on 3 September in Brussels. Mr Rupel said that “the Slovenian initiative for creating a Euro-Mediterranean University was warmly welcomed”; -immigration. “We stressed that EU policy on migration should take all aspects of migration into account, including the objective of strengthening internal Union security and respect for human rights…We have called for an expanded partnership between the European Union and migratory transit countries and countries of origin. We underscored the importance of member states support for FRONTEX”; - EU reform. Ministers welcomed the agreement reached at the June European Council on a negotiating brief as the “exclusive basis” for negotiations at the IGC; - Western Balkans. European prospects for Western Balkan countries were reiterated. The importance of European Union unity on the question of Kosovo was underlined; the next informal meeting of EU Mediterranean member states will take place in Cyprus on 17-18 January 2008, with the participation of the Secretary General of the Arab League.
The Koper meeting also promised consultation on French President Nicolas Sarkozy's project on a Mediterranean Union. Rupel, quoted by the Slovenian press agency STA, affirmed after the meeting that: “We agreed in principle that the Barcelona process should evolve into a Mediterranean Union”. He also indicated: “I can well imagine all the members of the Barcelona process becoming members of the Mediterranean Union”. However, Mr Rupel refuted the idea of this Union being conceived as an alternative to Turkish accession.
Yannis Valinakis, Greek Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, said that the French proposal illustrated the advantage of bringing the two sides of the Mediterranean closer in an effort to work more intensively on new sectors and to promote cooperation between them. Valinakis also stressed that the Sarkozy initiative was not a substitute to Turkey's accession candidacy, and reaffirmed: “Full respect (by Ankara) for the conditions laid down meant full accession of the candidate country”.
As part of a French initiative, informal consultation between member states neighbouring the Mediterranean dates back to 2005. It was relaunched by Greece in October 2006. A meeting took place in February earlier this year in Malta, where the main theme was relations with the Arab world (this resulted in a Maltese initiative for promoting a new Euro-Arab dialogue). With the accession of Bulgaria and Romania (these countries took part last week for the first time), the group now counts ten members (France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria) and will informally meet up at least once every new EU presidency. Michaël Frendo, the Maltese minister for foreign affairs, explained to EUROPE that the structure does not just cover Mediterranean relations but is also suitable for tackling all European or non-European themes affecting member states neighbouring the Mediterranean. French sources emphasised that this body proved particularly useful in negotiations on financial instruments for external EU action, so as to consolidate the block of countries in favour of continuing with the substantial commitment to the Mediterranean until 2013. (hb / fb)