The Euro-Mediterranean parliamentary dialogue

Almost a decade has passed since the signing of the Barcelona Declaration in November 1995, when the Foreign Ministers of the EU and their colleagues from 12 countries around the Mediterranean pledged to progressively establish a Euro-Mediterranean area of peace, stability and prosperity by 2010.

Over the years the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) has succeeded to create a tapestry of diverse Euro-Mediterranean networks that is facilitating interaction between the region's civil societies.

In the political and security dimension of the Barcelona Process preparations are currently under way to launch a Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, which will act as a new body in a consultative capacity in the framework of the Barcelona Process.

The creation of such an assembly will certainly help to bring the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership closer to the interests and expectations of public opinions throughout the region.

At the Fourth Conference of Presidents/Speakers of Euro-Mediterranean Parliaments held in Valletta on February 20 and 21 a constructive and cordial atmosphere reigned throughout that augurs well for the further consolidation of parliamentary diplomacy in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

At the conference it was agreed that on membership on May 1, the new members joining the European Union will also be admitted as full members of the Conference of Presidents/Speakers of the Euro-Mediterranean region.

The first ever Conference of Speakers of Euro-Mediterranean Parliaments was held in Palma de Mallorca in March 1999. The second was in Alexandria in May 2000 and the third in Athens in February 2002.

During the two-day conference in Malta the Presidents and Speakers discussed a whole array of international and regional issues and pledged their support to assist in the advancement of such co-operative initiatives.

This Presidents and Speakers welcomed the positive signs emerging from the Libyan Jamahiriya, particularly the decision of the Libyan leadership to do away with programmes of weapons of mass destruction and to open up its facilities to the inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency. They reiterated their call to Libya to adhere to the Barcelona Declaration and join the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.

The Presidents and Speakers also reaffirmed that the EU should remain open to the countries that are on the periphery of the continent, by implementing the European Neighbourhood Policy.

The stability and security of the European continent together with the neighbouring states of the Union should serve to strengthen the validity of this extended region in international relations.

The access to non-members of the community to the programmes of the Union was welcomed by the Presidents and called on all the parties to bring about the realisation of this project.

In this respect, and in conformity with the Thessaloniki Agenda for the Western Balkans last June, the Presidents/Speakers recommended inviting the parliamentary institutions in the Western Balkans to attend, as observers, future conferences of the Presidents/Speakers of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliaments.

The Euro-Mediterranean Speakers' Conference also welcomed the re-launching of negotiations in Nicosia under UN auspices that are seeking a solution to the Cyprus problem. A successful outcome of such an initiative would allow for a reunited Cyprus to accede to the Union to the benefit of both communities of the island.

The Presidents and Speakers also welcomed the initiative by Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan and Egypt to establish a free trade area between them.

Negotiations that have followed from the Agadir Declaration of a few years ago have culminated in the signing of a free trade agreement a few days ago.

The Euro-Med Presidents and Speakers also called on the European Commission and the EIB to accelerate the implementation of MEDA economic programmes and those envisaged by the Euro-Mediterranean investment and Partnership Fund (FEMIP). They also called for an increase of the annual funds available for development in Mediterranean partner countries.

The Presidents and Speakers viewed with satisfaction the regular organisation of ministerial meetings, particularly those that concern industry and trade. They considered that the ministerial meetings on agriculture, energy, transport, culture and information constituted a bold step in the right direction.

They emphasised the need to engage the future generation in the realisation of the objectives of the Barcelona process, and the elimination of perceptual differences that exist within the region. In this respect they welcomed the decision to set up a Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue of Cultures that should be able to infuse in the region an intercultural dialogue.

The Euro-Med Presidents and Speakers also augured success to the first meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, scheduled to be held next month in Greece. To bolster the objectives of this institution they called on all national parliaments and regional parliamentary institutions in the Euro-Mediterranean space to engage actively in this assembly's work. Support was also pledged to the initiative of the Inter-Parliamentary Union to set up a Parliamentary Assembly of Mediterranean states to be composed of the littoral states of the Mediterranean.

The Presidents and Speakers also requested to invite as observers to the first meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly a representative of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE.

The institutionalisation of the Euro-Med Parliamentary Forum and its transformation into a Euro-Med Parliamentary Assembly will increase the EMP's visibility in international relations.

Coupled with the setting up of a Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue of Cultures hopefully in the near future and the ongoing initiative to set up a branch of the European Investment Bank catering specifically for Mediterranean needs are all important mechanisms that will strengthen political, economic and social integration.

The main outcome of the setting up of a Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly is recognition of the importance of parliamentary diplomacy. Parliamentary diplomacy is an essential tool if the challenge of tackling successfully hard and soft security challenges that include illegal immigration, the trafficking of persons, drug-related activity and organised crime, not to mention international terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is to take place.

The Fourth Conference of Presidents/Speakers of Euro-Mediterranean Parliaments conference in Malta underlined that the Barcelona Process is "the only game in town" and it will remain so for another two decades or longer.

With each passing day it is becoming more and more obvious that security in Europe and security in the Mediterranean are indivisible. It is also clear that Europe is a major reference for the future development of Mediterranean countries, from market economy to high-tech research, freedom of the press, good governance, democracy and human rights.

Since the launching of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Malta has been playing a leading role in fostering co-operative relations between Europe and the Mediterranean.

Dr Calleya, an international relations analyst, is the author of a new book entitled Evaluating Euro-Mediterranean Relations, Francis and Taylor Publications, London, 2004.