Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-29-Speech-3-107"
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"en.20000329.7.3-107"2
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"Mr President, while Parliament is getting bogged down with details, here we are, forced to deal with one of the key areas of European concern, the Mediterranean, in a great rush.
All in all, on this matter, as on other matters, it is only the nations that can attempt to take up this great challenge, primarily France, which is still the leading power on the Mediterranean coastline, by means of its Arab policy and its policy of establishing links throughout the French-speaking world. France may be acting alone, but it is acting for the benefit of Europe as a whole.
Because of the complementarity that actually exists between the interests of the two continents of Europe and Africa, this vast Euro-African entity which necessarily revolves around the Mediterranean, our Mediterranean policy is invested with an importance, and I might say a seriousness, which unfortunately finds little reflection in the programmes carried out to date by the European institutions and the fact that, as in the case of MEDA, three quarters of the programmes adopted are still not applied.
Everything goes to show that, in fact, in this matter we are truly unaware of what is at stake. We have heard it said that the stakes are vast, and it is worth repeating. If we manage to create a unified, fraternal union between the lands to the north and the south of this sea then we shall continue to hold a position at the centre of world balance instead of being consigned to the sidelines in favour, it goes without saying, of other geostrategic formations, those of the Atlantic, primarily, or the Indian Ocean, or, above all, the Pacific, centres on whose periphery we are increasingly nothing more than supernumeraries.
There is no salvation to be found here, except by a proactive approach which – let me say quite bluntly – involve our regarding transatlantic communities of interest or relations with the continent of Asia as secondary and focusing on privileged relations, ‘privileged’ in the precise meaning of the word, with the Arab world. This would mean, for example, accepting countries such as Morocco, Tunisia or Algeria into the Union as Member States in their own right.
Without this proactive approach we should have no chance of gaining control of the balances, or rather the increasing imbalances in the world, or any control of economic flows – I am thinking particularly of raw materials, but also of agricultural production – no control of demographic flows, where balances are disrupted at great speed and to our disadvantage, as everyone knows, but also no control of cultural flows, for we certainly have no better allies than our Arab and African partners in resisting what is hastily termed globalisation, but which I feel is rather the general Americanisation of the world.
Our nations will remain great powers in the next century only insofar as they have successfully met the challenge of the Mediterranean partnership.
I hardly need express our pessimism in this regard. Firstly, because this key aspect is struggling along lethargically, with vague impulses served up in the form of speeches, witness the so very insipid Barcelona Process, this pathetic alibi for our basic indifference.
Pessimism, too, because our transatlantic partner, the United States of America, has fully understood that there is no better way to subject Europe to its domination than by cutting the productive links Europe may establish with its neighbours around the Mediterranean and is striving to erect a vague but effective wall between the two sides of the Mediterranean. Episodes such as the Gulf War and the proscription of Libya, and even of Syria from the international arena, in which we were skilfully manipulated by Washington, were just the most recent illustrations.
Pessimism, finally, because Europe remains too divided on this point, with too many states, particularly northern European states, preferring the Atlantic connection to the Euro-Arab or Euro-African connection, as evidenced by the gradual abandonment of the Lomé policy and the weakness of our Mediterranean policy."@en1
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