Paris, 14/07/2008 (Agence Europe) -The Declaration of Paris includes a role for the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA), which, according to the text, will be the legitimate parliamentary expression of the Barcelona Process: a Union for the Mediterranean. The heads of state and government unreservedly support the reinforcement of the role of the EMPA in its relations with the Mediterranean partners.
The reference to the EMPA and the parliamentary dimension of the process was called for in the strongest terms by the European Parliament and its president, Hans-Gert Pöttering, who is also the president of the EMPA. The bureau of this assembly, which consists of, as well as Mr Pöttering, the presidents of the Parliaments of Jordan - Abdel Hadi Al-majali, Italy - Gianfranco Fini and Morocco - Mustapha Mansouri, met on Saturday 12 July in Paris to adopt a declaration stressing that the reinforcement of democratic legitimacy of the euro-Mediterranean Parliament is needed. The bureau of the EMPA takes the view that this latter, as a parliamentary reference body, should make proposals and assessments. As in any democratic and representative political system, the new institutional structure of the Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean will thus be answerable before a legitimately elected assembly. This declaration was toned down by request of Mr Fini. The assembly will be meeting for its plenary session in Jordan on 13 October. It will take the opportunity to attempt to improve its definition of its role in the institutional architecture and to put forward proposals to the ministers, who will meet in November to decide on the functioning of these new Euro-Mediterranean partnership bodies.
As if to apologise for this acknowledgment of the EMPA, President Nicolas Sarkozy twice acknowledged and publicly thanked Abdelwahed Radi, the president of the Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly. (O.J./trans.fl)