Brussels, 15/05/2009 (Agence Europe) - It still seems unlikely that work will resume within the common structures responsible for EuroMed dialogue. No meeting of the joint group of senior officials responsible for follow-up is envisaged in the short term but those representing EU member states met separately in Brussels on Wednesday afternoon to take stock of the situation, and to note that no signal for resumption is at this stage noticeable. “The general conditions for resumption of work escape us”, a Community high official said.
Their meeting - convened by the Czech EU Presidency as part of the traditional “MaMa” (Maghreb-Mashrek) group in which France, which co-presides the Union for the Mediterranean, does not have a particular role to play - allowed officials to review the timetable for joint activities and the draft status of the UfM general secretariat. The timetable has been thrown into confusion by the circumstances marking the process since end 2008. Only technical and expert meetings, like those on energy, have and will continue to be held. No formal decision was taken on Wednesday evening. Most member states have decided to wait for an encouraging response from the Arab partner countries, one Community source states. The Czech presidency, in particular, speaks of the resolve to “go as far as possible” in preparing for work to be resumed, something that is still hypothetical. On the European side, it is hoped that, at the end of June, three sectoral ministerial sessions (on sustainable development, transport and civil protection) will be held. However, everything depends on the decision that the Arab group takes on this. This group no longer takes part in the joint meetings attended by representatives of the new Israeli government. Israeli-American talks in Washington on 18 June will no doubt give a clearer vision of the prospects and chances of relaunching the Euromed process, convergent sources state. The idea of a meeting of foreign ministers, evoked more than once by Henri Guaino (Special Adviser to the Elysée on UfM), is for now considered by Brussels as no more than rumour. There is reason to believe that no official indication has been given by Paris on the subject of this plan discussed by Guaino with the Egyptian co-presidency during a recent visit to Cairo.
In a concern to implement the decision by the ministerial conference in Marseilles on the creation of a general secretariat located in Barcelona, Spain plans to speed things up and proffer an invitation to all countries to come to debate the matter. The invitation suggests such a debate could take place on 25 May at the premises offered by the Catalan capital to the UfM. (F.B./transl.jl)