Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-05-20-Speech-4-045"
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"en.20100520.3.4-045"2
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"Mr President, it was indeed a good and inspiring discussion. I agree with those who say that we lost a lot of time, particularly in building a secretariat. I shall come to that in a second.
We are still facing some very important questions: how to make sure that whatever is going on around the Middle East process does not take the Union for the Mediterranean hostage; how to make sure that the summit takes place and that it creates the momentum you were talking about; and how to solve the issue of the intergovernmental approach vis-à-vis the Community approach as far as the Union for the Mediterranean is concerned. I shall make five very short remarks.
The first is that I should like to express my appreciation of the Spanish Presidency. We worked very hard with the Spanish Presidency in recent months. We inaugurated the secretariat on 4 March together and the Spanish Presidency is working very hard to make sure that the Barcelona Summit takes place.
My second remark is that it is very important not only that the secretariat starts its work, but also that it is funded. So far, it is funded only by the Commission. We will be sending one expert to make sure that there is compatibility between the project and EU policy. The secretariat should be small – about 40 people, more or less – and it should be that instrument which makes it possible for us to have more and more projects for the benefit of the members of the Union for the Mediterranean.
It is also important to say in this connection that there are a number of sectoral meetings going on which will bring benefits. Next week, there is a Finance Ministers’ meeting in Marseilles, and then next month, Agriculture Ministers will be meeting in Cairo.
While the Union for the Mediterranean is a very important part of our Neighbourhood Policy, the main bulk of our work with these countries is in the bilateral relationship where many of the southern partners would like to have an advanced status. Advanced status, on my reading, also means advanced commitment from our partners across the board, including on human rights and mobility, which are also very important questions. I agree with the honourable Members who were calling on us to ensure a greater synergy between the bilateral and multilateral approaches.
My last remark is that we are determined to work with the European Parliament. One of the next occasions will be the discussion on the neighbourhood package where we assess both the bilateral and multilateral framework of our neighbourhood."@en1
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