Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-01-31-Speech-3-080"
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"en.20010131.4.3-080"2
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"Commissioner, last November, you yourself said in the French press that the objective of the Barcelona Process was both simple and ambitious, i.e. an area at peace, enjoying shared prosperity, promoting the emergence of civil society while respecting human rights and ensuring the mutual understanding of different civilisations. These three points should guide us in our relations with our Mediterranean partners. It was in this spirit that the Group of the Party of European Socialists collaborated with the rapporteurs, Mrs Morgantini and our friend, Mr Naïr. For we must now set priorities that have genuine measurable objectives and we must allocate adequate resources to achieving them. We know that these priorities are, first of all, to make progress along the difficult road that is the Charter for Peace and Stability. The French Presidency tried to do this against an extremely complicated background and the Swedish Presidency, I am sure, will continue along this route. We would hope so and we shall all keep an eye on this.
The Barcelona Process should not be held hostage to the Middle East peace process. Quite the opposite; the continuing tensions and the state of war between the Israeli and Palestinian people serve only to highlight the current need to improve dialogue between the countries bordering the Mediterranean.
We should also step up the negotiation, ratification and implementation of the association agreements, since this contract formalises the commitments of both parties and ensures an effective partnership. We are delighted to learn that an agreement has just been signed with Egypt.
Furthermore, we cannot continue investing just one euro in the South for every 10 we invest in the East. This imbalance becomes more explosive with every passing day. Firstly, of course, we must bring the reform of the MEDA financial instrument to a successful conclusion so as to improve the quality and speed of its implementation.
Finally, we call for decentralised cooperation to be relaunched on new bases, so that we can fulfil the hopes and respond to the profusion of initiatives from civil society, both European and Mediterranean, because the partnership will be worth nothing if it is not a partnership of peoples.
Indeed, I was interested to note that the Swedish Presidency intends to focus on the cultural, social and human aspects of the Mediterranean partnership.
Commissioner, our relationship with the South needs the input of more than just words and political symbols. Our partners are expecting practical steps to be taken, as Mr Naïr stressed in his report, which I thought was particularly valuable."@en1
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