Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-01-31-Speech-3-086"
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"en.20010131.4.3-086"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Mediterranean cooperation has been exposed to critical and constructive examination in today’s debate, as well as in the two reports that have been submitted. I welcome this debate. I have listened carefully to the points of view presented and noted that the criticisms made on a number of points are justified. I think that dialogue with the partner countries is extremely important. The real potential of the Barcelona Process can only be realised if all participants feel that they really own the process and that they are responsible for its different parts.
Allow me to comment briefly on some of the interesting contributions to this debate.
Mr Beazley discusses the issue of whether the enlargement process and Mediterranean cooperation are coordinated processes. The obvious answer from the presidency is
; they must be coordinated. Just like Mr Esteve, we too, as holders of the presidency, see no conflict between, on the one hand, enlargement and, on the other hand, Mediterranean cooperation. We shall, and must, be able to devote all our energies to these two areas.
I am very pleased that a number of MEPs, particularly Mrs Carlotti and Mr Martin, discuss the importance of association agreements between the EU and the partner countries. We see these agreements as necessary building blocks for establishing a free-trade area in the region. The aim is for these agreements to be ready by 2010. That is why, in the Council’s view, it is important for this process to be speeded up.
I note with satisfaction that it was possible to countersign the association agreement with Egypt a few days ago. We hope that, during the Swedish Presidency, we shall be able to hold an initial association council with Jordan. It is also promising that the association negotiations with Algeria, Syria and Lebanon are proceeding at a good pace. We believe, then, that these association agreements are not only of great importance to trade and economic integration but are also an important political platform. They form the basis for a regular, deeper and extended political dialogue.
In today’s debate, quite a lot of criticism has been directed against the EU’s aid to the Mediterranean. The Council hopes that the revised mediation arrangement adopted last autumn may provide the opportunity for a more efficient and more strategic method of working. Mr Martin spoke of the importance of the cities’ role in Mediterranean cooperation. I can only concur with what Mr Martin said. It is important to give due weight to the significance of the urban regions and their potential in Mediterranean cooperation. The Council therefore sees this as an aspect we should like to try to cultivate further.
Mr Gemelli spoke about what I think is a very important issue, namely the dialogue with Islamic society. At the social and cultural level, the presidency sees just such a dialogue between cultures and civilisations as one of our most important priorities – an area in which, as luck would have it, Sweden has been able to play quite a leading role for a long time. Mention might be made, for example, of the so-called Euro-Islam project and the so-called Stockholm Conclusions from 1998, which provide guidelines for continued work in a long list of areas within this dialogue.
Mrs Napoletano discussed the incredibly important cooperation taking place in the legal sphere. The Swedish Presidency wishes to promote cooperation in this area. We shall be organising a high-level meeting and a seminar. Both will be designed to contribute to the Commission’s new regional programmes in the legal and domestic policy areas. Questions relating to migration, to which several MEPs have referred in today’s debate, are an important part of this complex of issues. I think it is important for these migration issues to be seen in an overall perspective in which we have to take account of social, economic and cultural aspects.
The phase we are now entering into must be focused upon implementing what everyone within the Barcelona Process has already agreed about. I believe it was Mr Obiols I Germà who talked about the lack of symbolic specific action. Mrs Carlotti touched upon the same subject. I now believe that the EU, together with the partner countries around the Mediterranean, must ensure that the intentions and commitments of the Barcelona Declaration are ‘clothed’ in action for, like any other activity, the Barcelona Process will be judged not according to what it promises but according to what it achieves."@en1
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