Brussels, 05/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - The Commission plans to submit a draft negotiating brief with Libya to the member states by the end of the year, Eneko Landaburu, Director General for External Relations, told EUROPE. The form that the agreement to be negotiated will take has not yet been defined. Commission services are currently seeking to determine whether negotiation should aim at an association agreement or some other form of contractual commitment. “This will depend on Tripoli's level of ambition” regarding its future relations with the EU, Mr Landaburu said, noting that such an agreement will complete the network of relations with the Mediterranean.
The Director General pointed out, moreover, that the Commission also intends to present a communication by the end of the year drawing the conclusions of Monday's conference on European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). He said this had mainly been a listening session to take stock of the policy for which one of the founders again stressed “equity” and “mutual commitment”. From this point of view, he said, the meeting was useful in allowing the situation to move forward to a significant political level. The exercise was considered useful before internal talks begin at the EU to define new financial means. Mr Lanadaburu plans to defend this dossier in coming days before Coreper (committee of representatives of member states). One characteristic of the dossier will be the balance between financial transfers to Eastern Europe and those to the Mediterranean, he said.
Mr Landaburu recognised that the countries of eastern Europe seemed more committed to ENP as they do not, he said, have another framework for discussion with the EU. Their proximity with Russia means that they are keener to seek closer links with the EU. On the other hand, the Mediterranean partners can refer to the Barcelona Process as a multilateral regional framework. But here too, he went on, the situation varies. The case of Morocco is not the same as that of Egypt or Tunisia, or that of Algeria which has nothing to do with the current absence of relations with Libya that the Commission is seeking to fill. What counts, in his eyes, is ensuring that the ENP commitment remains intact despite certain criticism more on the method than on substance. Criticism expressed by ministers from Mediterranean countries does not seem to question the policy itself which, despite its limits, remains necessary. Criticism shows that “if the policy did not exist, it would be necessary to invent it”. Eneko Landaburu states in any case that he takes the question of parity and shared responsibility “seriously” - as the Commission “knows that imposing a policy from outside is doomed to failure”, as agreements must be “sealed after careful consideration”.
Criticism and suggestions from Mediterranean countries include those from Morocco expressed by Economy Minister Fathallah Oualalou, who calls for a faster pace and a more consistent agenda going beyond the current association. Unreservedly supporting the Commission, the minister nonetheless says that this new policy would do well to be enhanced and strengthened, mainly by mobilising financial means to meet the needs of regional development, developed and strengthened cooperation in the conception and implementation of joint sectoral policies and the drawing up of a clear and precise roadmap for improving access to the internal market. He also spoke of taking development asymmetry into account between the EU and its neighbours, saying that the huge economic and social development differences, and the persistence of such differences, mean that the migratory phenomenon is increasingly aggravated.
Mr Oualalou said that the increase in migration, with all its dramatic consequences, “has shown the limitations of a unilateral policy and the inadequacy of a purely security approach”.
Algeria, in the main, remains reticent. “Algeria wants to hold on to the Association Agreement concluded under the Barcelona Process and in place for two years in preference to the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP),” the Algerian representative to the EU, Ambassador Halim Benattallah said in Brussels on Monday. “European offers under its neighbourhood policy, such as economic integration, the free-trade area, joining the internal market, energy, transport, the movement of persons, sub-regional cooperation, already form part of the association agreement. In addition, Algeria has adopted an action plan, which has been approved by the EU, for the implementation of this agreement in line with national development priorities and a jointly agreed timetable. Algerian civil society, which has been invited to join this process, wants to see what the association agreement will bring, to see what the advantages are before going further. Moreover, the ENP promotes the idea of participants taking ownership of this process.” The ambassador also questioned the aims of the common trading area: even before the free-trade area has been set up, Algeria has encountered insurmountable regulatory or discriminatory (in selling gas in Spain) obstacles to the export of some hydro-carbon intensive manufactured goods. For Algeria, “given the lack of support for massive economic development and without bringing the national economy up to standard, this prospect presents the risk of serious consequences for the national economy, which will find itself in direct competition with the much more highly developed European giants.”
Tunisia, which says that “Europe is a strategic choice”, expressed regret that there was not enough consultation in the management of the ENP. Foreign Minister Abdelwahab Abdallah stressed that “dialogue and consultation ought to be key elements in a joint action strategy. Hence the importance of 'joint ownership'.” He also said that “immigration, which continues to be seen as a problem is, in fact, an important factor in the economic development for Europe and its neighbours.” He felt, too that: “The financial and other supporting means to support the dynamic of global reform which we have undertaken remain limited and well below needs and challenges and do not correspond to our stated absorption capacity.” (fb)