Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-11-24-Speech-2-465"
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"en.20091124.37.2-465"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to thank Mr Moreira for his speech.
On 9 December, the Euro-Mediterranean trade ministers will meet to debate the revival of our economic and trade cooperation. Firstly, I would like us all to be clear about something: if the aim of the free trade area was indeed to benefit all of the partners, from the North and from the South, setting 2010 as the date on which it will be introduced was neither realistic nor even desirable, given that there are still huge disparities in development terms between the north and the south sides of the Mediterranean.
Moreover, some people are still advocating the fact that, to make progress with the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership – which I would remind you is made up of three pillars: politics, economics, and society and culture – we simply need to brush aside the political difficulties in order to make headway with the economic and trade aspect. As you will have gathered, I do not believe in this magical and pernicious view that trade alone can help us progress towards harmonious integration, peace and stability.
I believe in it even less since the facts speak for themselves. For example, the Union for the Mediterranean, in brushing aside the political conflicts, was supposed to revive stagnant Euro-Mediterranean cooperation with so-called concrete and visible projects. Today, it is the Union for the Mediterranean that is stagnating, and the political disputes that have gone unmentioned have come back to haunt it.
I am among those who are fiercely attached to the spirit of the Barcelona Process, who believe that progress is not measured solely by trade statistics, which are, incidentally, still too unfavourable to our partners from the South, to their populations. Trade for trade’s sake – no, I definitely do not believe in it.
On the other hand, trade that is focused on development and aimed at reducing the gap between rich and poor, at ensuring that prosperity really is shared and that regional integration exists – yes, I can conceive of that. However, the negotiations still need to be steered in this direction.
That is why, at this next meeting, I ask that we all be ambitious, that we not just discuss technical matters to do with the removal of barriers to trade, as though that were the aim. It is unacceptable to go on thinking that way.
Regional integration, particularly in terms of the South-South network, the solutions to be adopted for the economic crisis – which is having a severe impact with its associated job losses – human, social and environmental considerations, and the human rights issue must sustain the discussions and become our main concerns once again."@en1
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