Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-01-31-Speech-3-060"
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"en.20010131.4.3-060"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the Swedish Presidency sees the EU’s Mediterranean cooperation as an important and pressing issue. I therefore listened with great interest to Mrs Muscardini’s and Mr Naïr’s presentations of their reports.
It is gratifying to note that criticisms made in both reports relate to the Swedish Presidency’s main priorities. In political terms, the presidency wishes to promote democracy and human rights, social and economic progress and progress on environmental matters and, in addition, equality and the struggle against various forms of discrimination.
In the economic and financial sphere, we want to work towards an economic and financial partnership which is both dynamic and has a human face. The concept of prosperity includes both economic growth and social equilibrium. To date, no conference of trade ministers has been held within the Barcelona Process, in spite of the fact that trade and the economy form one of the three pillars of Barcelona cooperation. The presidency is therefore going to arrange a meeting involving the 27 countries’ trade ministers. The aim is to give a dynamic edge to the most important aspects of trade covered by the Barcelona Process and to agree upon the guidelines for continued work. The need for regional integration is another important issue which should be discussed. Other priority sectors include rules of origin, accumulation, harmonisation measures, norms and standards and intellectual property protection.
In this context, I also wish to point out that the presidency shares the view that agricultural products ought not to be excluded from the free-trade discussions. It is also important to encourage and support trade and cooperation between the partner countries themselves. This is a neglected area in which a great deal must and can be done.
More than five years have gone by since the Barcelona Process was embarked upon. A lot has been achieved, but it has not been possible to implement many of the plans. To some extent, the way matters stand in the peace process has restricted the potential for progress, but other factors too have had a part to play. We are convinced that a good deal can and should be done to give more impetus to Mediterranean cooperation and to make everyone involved feel that they own more of the process. I shall therefore be listening with great interest to today’s debate, which I am convinced will make a valuable contribution to strengthening the EU’s Mediterranean cooperation."@en1
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