Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-29-Speech-3-098"
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, I would like to emphasise that relations with the Mediterranean countries are a priority that has been specifically included in the Portuguese presidency’s work programme for this six-month period. We are familiar with the main mechanisms that have been established by the European Union in this area, so I shall not go into them now. However, regarding the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, I would like to point out that an informal meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership will be held during the Portuguese presidency – on 25 and 26 May – with the purpose of establishing a frank and open dialogue on the partnership’s workings and priorities. In particular, it will seek to do this by making an inventory and undertaking a critical analysis of the way we view the
of the partnership, which we know can be seen quite differently by states on opposite shores of the Mediterranean, so that we can provide the necessary impetus for the three areas of the partnership’s activities. Another purpose is to prepare for the Barcelona IV formal meeting of Foreign Ministers which will be held in Marseilles in November under the Barcelona Process. We think that it is important to undertake this assessment not just to be consistent in following up what we have already done in Stuttgart, but also in order to analyse new priorities in some sectors where cooperation needs to be developed further.
In response to another question, the Council does not currently envisage a multilateral treaty between third countries. The European Union considers that first of all, encouragement needs to be given to all spontaneous forms of south-south cooperation, which are still limited, and to speeding up trade agreements between Mediterranean countries, for which technical support has already been made available. While I am on this subject, Mr President, I would like to say that many of the complaints made about how the Mediterranean process is working are very often mirrored in the way north-south relations function. I would like to stress quite clearly, without wishing to be critical in any way, that here too we have a clear example of what was laid down in Barcelona: a great deal of homework remains to be done between the countries on the southern rim of the Mediterranean regarding their lack of interregional relations. Furthermore, the southern Mediterranean countries have acknowledged this themselves and unless this work towards interregional cooperation in the southern Mediterranean takes place, the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation process cannot succeed. It is also vital that this message should reach our southern partners, as otherwise, all we will have are individual approaches to the EU’s relationship with each of these countries, and we will never manage to establish a common area. In order to establish this common area, all of the southern Mediterranean countries need to understand that they will have to make concessions and maintain a constructive dialogue in order to achieve intra-regional cooperation.
With regard to the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the French presidency intends to pursue the work that was started in The Hague in March 1999 on migration and the exchange of peoples, by organising a new meeting of high-level officials in the second half of this year. This is an extremely sensitive issue and we acknowledge the importance and the relevance of the question put to the Council, but this requires solid preparation.
Regarding the target date of 2010 and the question we have been asked about setting up a committee to look into what action may be necessary, we do not currently intend to set up any committee, but it is our firm intention to pursue and to conclude negotiations for association agreements between the EU and the Mediterranean countries as quickly as possible. For this to be achieved, the will to succeed must be present on both sides. The association agreement with Morocco recently came into force, on 1 March, and the presidency is certain, given the progress made in ratification at national level, that the agreement with Israel can also come into force in June. As you will all be aware, negotiations with Algeria will continue in mid-April and should have resumed with Syria at the end of March, but they have just been postponed due to a new government taking office in that country. The Portuguese presidency hopes that significant progress will be made during its term of office.
However, Mr President, with regard to the Euro-Mediterranean agreements, it would be wrong to hope for regular growth in what can be expected from these agreements. The Euro-Mediterranean agreements cannot become a kind of launch pad which provides substantial and cumulative advantages for those countries which enter into agreements at a later stage, as compared with the benefits obtained by the earlier signatories, which would amount to a kind of institutionalised sleight of hand. The countries of the southern Mediterranean have to understand that we must be in a position to guarantee equal treatment and that delaying tactics cannot be used to gain advantages in agreements signed at a later stage. In particular, they must understand that earlier agreements cannot be reviewed in the light of benefits subsequently acquired in later agreements. This is not a process of accumulation, but one of balance and fairness.
The European Union has made efforts to show the southern Mediterranean countries that establishing the Single Market has been a positive experience. For this reason and in line with what I was saying earlier, we have been encouraging those countries to try to harmonise their legislation as far as possible with EU legislation. This is part of the regional programme for industrial cooperation under the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, and the Portuguese presidency has decided, in conjunction with the Cypriot government, to review the situation with Industry Ministers on 21 to 23 June in Nicosia. We think that this is of the utmost importance. This will be the third Euro-Mediterranean meeting on this subject at Industry Minister level.
With regard to the Middle East peace process, the question Parliament has asked raises a fundamental issue. The visibility of the Middle East peace process is not an end in itself for the European Union. We feel that the key factor underlying the Council of Ministers’ action is the attempt to contribute to the success of the peace process through our presence and our action. We have been steadfast in our support for this peace process not only through considerable economic assistance – and I would like to make it clear that this assistance is unparalleled in the history of the Middle East – but also through the political initiatives themselves and their constructive support for the efforts of the United States and other key participants. Something that should be borne in mind is that the visibility and the presence of the EU in the Middle East peace process should be what the partners in this peace process wish them to be, rather than being visible in the way some countries might wish them to be. We will do what we can to assist the peace process, because it is peace that we are interested in and not our own visibility in this peace process. In this area, I would like to make clear our commitment to the Palestinian track, through our support for implementing agreements which have been concluded and by offering to contribute to discussions on that country’s permanent status. With regard to the Syrian track, the Council continues to be steadfast in its commitment, particularly through its Special Envoy – whose work I would like to say has been extremely positive – to helping both sides to move towards reopening bilateral negotiations, which did in fact happen, as you will be aware, last December. We hope that the new era in Syria’s international relations that we are now witnessing will lead to some progress in this area, as we are aware of the interdependence of all the tracks in the Middle East peace process.
Together with the United States and Russia, who are co-sponsors of the multilateral track in the process which was started in 1991 in Madrid, the Council has been working towards normal recommencement of the activities under this track, after an interruption of three years. This effort led to the meeting of the Ministerial Steering Group which took place on 1 February, at which the go-ahead was given for most of the multilateral groups to restart their activities as normal this spring. In their capacity as joint chairs of the Working Group on Economic and Regional Development, which has 53 members within the region and outside it, the Council and the Commission will bring this group together at a meeting on 8 to 11 May. The European Union will also host the next meeting of the steering group in July.
At its meeting of 24 January, the Council asked the High Representative, assisted by the Special Envoy and the Commission, to look more closely at issues in which the European Union is specifically committed to playing a major role, such as issues concerning security, water and refugees. The High Representative was also requested to submit for our consideration a discussion paper on future prospects for the region so that the EU is fully equipped to play a major role once peace is achieved.
Cooperation with civil society, which is one of the points raised in another question, is still an essential element in the development of the third chapter of the Barcelona Process. A whole range of activities has already been developed, such as the establishment of a youth forum, and I hope that at the Lisbon Summit we can look at which areas these activities under the third chapter can be focused on, in order to enable civil society to play an increasingly important role in this area. With regard to financial support for non-governmental organisations working in this field, this is obviously a matter for the Commission.
As to establishing a free trade area, which is another area in the process of Mediterranean relations, we feel that this should not be seen as an end in itself, but as a means of improving our citizens’ living conditions and of increasing their level of income. It is also particularly designed to reduce the disparity that today exists in relation to the citizens of the European Union. The establishment of this area will certainly give the Mediterranean countries an opportunity, by means of a process of free trade, to be part of a more interdependent world and, in this way, not to remain on the fringes of this global trend towards greater prosperity and well-being.
Regarding the Arab Maghreb Union, the Council is convinced of the importance and the need for cooperation in a region of 80 million inhabitants sharing the same language and religion. The Council has therefore, as I have said, consistently encouraged regional cooperation in the Maghreb through its political dialogue with Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. Therefore, regardless of any cyclical developments that may have had a negative influence on relations within the Arab Maghreb, and we hope that they are only temporary, we have high hopes for positive developments in the future.
With regard to relations with Libya, a considerable advance was made with the lifting of sanctions, with the exception of the weapons embargo, last September. The Council has confirmed its desire to see Libya participate fully in the Barcelona Process and hopes that it will be able to give its full and unreserved acceptance of the Barcelona
. The Ambassadorial Troika has, in fact, just visited Libya, on 26 and 27 March to be precise, and it was made quite clear to Libya that its acceptance of the Barcelona
would mean that it would have to negotiate an association agreement with the European Union in order to be able to join the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area to be established by 2010. The issue of negotiating an agreement of this kind with Libya is not currently on the agenda, but the Council will discuss this if and when it becomes an issue.
To respond to a point raised in another question, the Council is aware of the challenge presented by private investment, which is one of the essential levers of growth. Under the Portuguese proposal presented under the Mediterranean Forum and subsequently followed up through the Barcelona Process, a conference on investment throughout the Mediterranean area was held in Lisbon on 28 February to 11 March at which there was substantial representation from the private sector. The participants highlighted the low and inadequate flow of investment to the Mediterranean region in comparison with its potential, and in comparison with other parts of the world. They also highlighted the various factors which favour investment and which must be drawn together and strengthened, and specifically the need for sufficiently large markets, which must be built through the establishment of a progressive Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area.
At that conference the Commission announced the establishment of a Euro-Mediterranean network for cooperation between investment promotion agencies, which should enable it to be kept up to date, and for support from the institutions to be provided through a training and know-how programme. In addition to this, a study of barriers to direct foreign investment was initiated, which we trust will provide us with reliable data by the end of the year.
As for the issue of the Western Sahara, which was mentioned in another question, the Council has been supporting the work of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the work of his Special Representative for the region, Ambassador Eagleton, and that of the Special Envoy, Mr Bacon. The Council noted the report submitted by Mr Bacon on 17 February, according to which the timetable that had been set was no longer valid as, at the time, no new date could reliably be set for the referendum to be held. We are aware that this new factor could have a negative effect on the whole process. Nevertheless, the Council is pleased that the High Representative intends to request the Special Envoy to explore ways and means of finding an acceptable and lasting solution to this conflict. The Council confirms that it is willing to contribute to establishing a climate of trust between all parties in order to find a solution to the problem of the Western Sahara based on human rights and on respect for democratic principles.
I shall now conclude, Mr President. I have, of course, been answering a very long series of questions, and if I did not give the various questions the attention they deserve, certain honourable Members might naturally start thinking that the presidency was not paying due attention to their questions.
We have gone into great detail on some of the different aspects of current Mediterranean policy, even though this subject deserves even more detailed treatment in my opinion. Although there are grounds for disappointment in view of the expectations raised by the launching of the Barcelona Process in November 1995 – and I am perhaps one of the few people here to have been present at that launch, at the signing of that agreement – this is largely attributable to the political circumstances in the Middle East, which were favourable in November 1995 but which have deteriorated considerably since then with the impasse that has arisen in the peace process. Nevertheless, we should not forget that despite these problems, the Barcelona Process has been able to continue and I think that it is important to highlight the fact that this is the only body that has managed to get the Mediterranean Arab countries, Israel and the European Union round the same table, which, in my opinion, in itself represents a considerable step forward. We believe that the fact that a new Israeli government is taking office, with a new policy of relaunching the peace process, means that we may once again have grounds for hoping that there will be positive repercussions for the development of the Middle East peace process.
With regard to the MEDA programme, which is an important instrument in this context, the total sum available to the MEDA II programme for the period 2000-2006 has not yet been announced and the Commission has stated that it will soon announce proposals for distributing budget heading IV for external relations, which includes the MEDA programme. The Council is looking at the proposal submitted by the Commission at the end of last year to simplify and improve the MEDA regulation procedures, in response to a request from our Mediterranean partners. We know from past experience that some of our southern Mediterranean partners, together with certain EU Member States and the Commission itself, which has in fact made a specific assessment of the system’s actual effectiveness, consider that part of this system needs to be improved. In our opinion, the proposed mechanisms would go some way towards achieving this.
The European Parliament has also been consulted on this proposal, and the Council hopes that it will soon give its opinion. The MEDA programme also funds activities in the areas of education and professional training, currently to the tune of around EUR 1 billion per annum. The loans from the European Investment Bank, which are of the same order of magnitude, are mainly designed to finance infrastructure and environmental projects.
Under the Barcelona Process, a meeting of employment and professional training experts will be held on 31 March and 1 April, precisely in order to look at how the southern Mediterranean countries can be helped to define national policies for employment and professional training and to exchange information and experience. The broader objective is obviously to contribute to increasing competitiveness, as this in fact depends to a large extent on the level of human resources training.
With regard to the role of the High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, which was mentioned in one of the questions to Council, I would like to confirm that the European Union attaches the greatest importance to promoting a coherent and comprehensive policy for the Mediterranean region. We intend to play an active role in this area, not only in the context of the Barcelona Process, but also with regard to the Middle East peace process itself. The High Representative is particularly committed to issues of this kind and took part in the last meeting, held in Moscow, of the Ministerial Steering Committee, which gave fresh impetus to the multilateral track of the Middle East peace process, in which the European Union is involved.
Other specific issues on which the EU intends to continue working are, as you will be aware, the drafting of a common strategy on the Mediterranean, as was decided at the Cologne European Council and reiterated at the Helsinki European Council. The Portuguese presidency is currently preparing this common strategy which, I would like to point out, is quite different to the previous two common strategies with Russia and with Ukraine, which were bilateral. This is more of a horizontal, multilateral common strategy, and involves a set of approaches which, in our opinion, must attempt to go further than the Barcelona Process itself. By this I mean that if the common strategy does nothing more than repeat what is in the Barcelona Process, we will gain no added value in terms of a coherent EU policy towards our southern partners. Our aim is to be able, by means of this common strategy, to contribute to a new approach, and in particular to take account of developments in the Middle East peace process and the way in which these developments reflect – positively, we hope – on strategic relations within the Mediterranean itself.
The European Union is also working on an issues paper on the future of the region so as to be prepared to play its full role when peace is achieved through the Middle East peace process. An analysis of the issues on which the EU is particularly well placed also needs to be carried out, notably on security, water and refugees.
With regard to the Euro-Mediterranean Charter for Peace and Stability, which has attracted the attention of this Parliament and which is occupying the Council, following the remit given by the Stuttgart Ministerial Conference in April 1999, a schedule for work on this issue was drawn up, and meetings on this subject were held in November, December and March. To date, discussions have concentrated on the principles to be included in the charter, on its means and mechanisms and on its institutional provisions. A further meeting is due to be held here in Brussels in the next few days. Work is also going ahead with a view to preparing a report on progress to date, which will be studied – informally – at the meeting of Foreign Ministers to be held in Lisbon during the Portuguese presidency."@en1
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