Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-14-Speech-3-196"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20070314.17.3-196"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Madam President, I should like to begin by congratulating my fellow Member, Mr Arif, on the excellent report that he has produced and is presenting today. As my fellow Members have said, at the end of this week, the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly will meet in Tunis. The work done by the EMPA over the last three years has paved the way for an ever more constructive political future, but the Middle East conflict remains the number one problem. In this regard, the EMPA will hold an extraordinary meeting in Cairo on this issue in June.
Politicians from both shores of the Mediterranean who form part of the EMPA want to help establish a lasting peace. The fact remains that Europe must become more active in this conflict and must crucially restore financial aid for the Palestinians, as the World Bank recommends in its latest report.
As regards the creation of free trade areas, Europe and its partners must redouble their efforts. The European Union must encourage the undertaking of reforms in the South by making effective use of the new neighbourhood instrument, and it must support the Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership, the FEMIP, and its necessary transformation into a true development bank dedicated to the Mediterranean. For their part, the countries of the South must take ownership of the partnership and work towards enhanced regional integration with the aim of creating a mutually beneficial area of prosperity.
The European Union and its partners are therefore required to act if they are to rise to the challenge of an ambitious and effective liberalisation of trade. Accordingly, Europe must also help reduce one of the major causes of the imbalances, namely unemployment in the countries of the southern Mediterranean. Indeed, each year, four million young people from the countries of the South enter the job market without finding a job. At the same time, the trade imbalance in favour of Europe stands at several tens of billions of euros. This situation is getting worse each year; it does not correspond to a free trade philosophy, it is the source of growing impoverishment and it is a factor leading to unrest.
To conclude, together, we must all strengthen dialogue among civilisations in a region in which there are exceptional historical and human assets. The cultural issue is undoubtedly the most important, since it is in the hearts of men and women that the desire for war or peace is born."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples