Euro-Mediterranean diplomacy

The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) is certainly the most important regional process that currently exists in the Mediterranean as it brings together all 15 European Union member states and 12 Mediterranean countries - Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, Turkey, Cyprus, and Malta

At the first Euro-Med conference in Barcelona in November 1995 the 27 partner countries established three principal areas of co-operation and set out three basic tasks: a political and security partnership with the aim of establishing a common area of peace and stability; an economic and financial partnership with the aim of creating an area of shared prosperity; a partnership in social, cultural and human affairs in an effort to promote understanding between cultures and exchanges between civil societies.

Top of the agenda was the endorsement, or at least elaboration, of a Security Charter that will lay the foundations for the peaceful resolution of crisis situations and conflicts throughout the Euro-Med area. Such a Security Charter would enable the partners to identify the factors of friction and tension in the Euro-Med area and to carry out an assessment of how such destabilising focal points can be managed.

Seven years later the Euro-Med area remains without a security framework that can deal with crisis situations like the recent Spanish-Moroccan standoff over the rock of Perejil/Leila. The most shocking aspect of the Spanish-Moroccan crisis is that although there have been numerous incidents and points of tension in the past year which have included the recalling of the Moroccan ambassador from Spain and suspension of the fishing agreement between the EU and Morocco, no concerted Euro-Mediterranean crisis prevention or resolution mechanism has emerged to manage the situation.

To date, the Mediterranean partner countries have found it difficult to commit themselves to an incremental work programme that would at least seek to create the necessary co-operative relations that would allow for the introduction of a Euro-Mediterranean Security Charter. Failure to provide a conciliatory framework within which a resolution can be negotiated is resulting in the Euro-Med Partnership being perceived as powerless.

It is clear that the 27 Euro-Med states should therefore reopen the debate on the Euro-Med Security Charter with a new sense of urgency. The multitude of north-south issues that include migration, refugees and territorial disputes calls for a dynamic diplomatic Euro-Med crisis-prevention and crisis-management mechanism. Otherwise the Euro-Med partnership runs the risk of increasingly being seen as politically irrelevant.

Malta's active participation in the Euro-Med Process already demonstrates its ability to further security and stability across the Euro-Mediterranean geo-strategic region. As a European country with a Mediterranean personality, Malta is ideally located to assist in realising the overriding objectives of the Euro-Med Process.

By adopting a Euro-Med balanced foreign policy agenda, Malta has found a way of maximising its position in international relations. The drive to become an EU member state serves as a new incentive to adapt to the rapidly changing international system.

As the EU becomes more engrossed in its enlargement strategy there is a risk that the priority once given to the Mediterranean could diminish. It is therefore essential that the Mediterranean countries actively seek to avoid such a possibility becoming a reality. As an EU candidate country Malta is already playing a leading role in this strategy by voicing common Mediterranean concerns in its interactions with the EU.

As an EU aspirant and also a partner country of the Euro-Med Process Malta finds itself interacting with very different groupings of countries north and south of the Mediterranean on a regular basis. Such interaction has allowed it to further strengthen its credentials in international relations and also to nurture directly co-operative perceptions with all the countries in its regional vicinity.

On joining the EU, Malta will be well placed to pursue a regional policy of forming a strategic alliance with other EU Mediterranean states such as Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece, to raise the profile of Mediterranean issues within EU circles.

Above all else, it must be underlined that it is in Malta's interest to promote and sustain the co-operative Euro-Med partnership venture. As a European country located in the centre of the Mediterranean, it is clear that maintaining stability and promoting co-operation between Europe and the Arab world should be at the heart of Malta's foreign policy agenda.

Dr Calleya is an international relations analyst