Brussels, 08/05/2009 (Agence Europe) - Learning from the current deadlock in the EuroMed dialogue due mainly to the invasion of Gaza and the dragging of feet in establishing the institutional framework, the two countries chairing the EuroMed Process, France and Egypt, are considering launching a new political push to break the deadlock. A high-ranking Arab diplomat explained the current situation by comparing it to a plane without a pilot. Visiting Cairo last week, Henri Guaino, special advisor to President Nicolas Sarkozy of France with responsibility for the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), discussed it in a meeting with the Egyptian authorities. A ministerial summit is being planned for the month of May but it will probably take place in June or July. As with all the EuroMed and Middle Eastern events, everything is suspended until after the talks between Obama and Netanyahu in Washington on 18 May 2009, after talks between Egypt and Israel on 11 May (see related article).
Henri Guiano referred, in an address to the Paris Forum on 28 March, to a “strong political initiative to relaunch the diplomatic process in the next few months”. He said he was aware of the rumour mill and lies and the political, journalistic and bureaucratic manoeuvrings to discredit the UfM that seemed to be rocking the boat, and feudal allegiances that had been in place for too long. He said that he had been pointing this out to bureaucrats who failed to understand that foreign policy was first and foremost a political matter. Guaino's speech amounted to a confirmation of trust in the process and a challenge to the EU institutions which still have reservations about the structure of the UfM. Guaino said that the bureaucrats did not understand because UfM was outside their normal procedures and habits. Journalists were not interested because it was not spectacular enough and it took too much time and effort to understand the process. The full speech has been published online by MedAfrique.info. Henri Guaino challenged people enjoying schadenfreude at what they expect and hope to be a failure, saying he would not be giving up, the president of France would not be giving up, France would not be giving up and everyone in Europe, in the Mediterranean, on the northern and southern banks of the Mediterranean alike, who wants the Union for the Mediterranean to be a success, these people will be stronger than the resistance, stronger than their narrow-minded views. Guaiano said that his critics may not believe it but he would fight to ensure UfM was a success. He explained that UfM was a fight that would be fought until the end, a just fight, a necessary fight and those responsible for the failure of the Barcelona Process are not well-placed to lecture others. (F.B./transl.fl)