EU Neighbourhood – Southern Mediterranean. The Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Ministers of...

EU Neighbourhood – Southern Mediterranean


The Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, held in Barcelona on 27-28 November 1995, marked the starting point of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (Barcelona Process), a wide framework of political, economic and social relations between the Member States of the European Union and Partners of the Southern Mediterranean.


The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership comprises the EU member states and 10 Mediterranean Partners, namely Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey. Libya has observer status since 1999.


The Euro-Mediterranean partners established the three main objectives of the Partnership:

1. The definition of a common area of peace and stability through the reinforcement of political and security dialogue (Political and Security Chapter).


2. The construction of a zone of shared prosperity through an economic and financial partnership and the gradual establishment of a free-trade area (Economic and Financial Chapter).

3. The rapprochement between peoples through a social, cultural and human partnership aimed at encouraging understanding between cultures and exchanges between civil societies (Social, Cultural and Human Chapter).


Although the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership has three declared objectives, many observers, like Rana Izci, note that it “focuses for the most part on trade liberalization with the target of gradual establishment of a free trade area by 2010.


Neither the environment nor sustainable development have a separate chapter; and there is still no special and stronger emphasis on them especially under the third pillar of the partnership. Both areas are still dealt with within the economic and financial development chapter as one of the priorities for regional economic integration.


The 2002 Declaration by non-governmental organizations active in the Mediterranean for the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, claimed that the region is an example of unequal trade relations that benefit the developed countries and leave developing countries behind.


Presidency Project

Strengthening the Capacity of Civil Society in Malta, Cyprus and Slovenia to engage effectively in dialogue with the European Institutions over Sustainable Livelihoods in the Mediterranean and the Barcelona Process.


Identified NeedThere is a clear gap between the rhetoric of Policy Makers/European Institutions regarding the Barcelona Process and the economic, social and environmental reality on the ground as experienced by grassroots civil society organisations of the Southern Mediterranean.


Identified NeedThe Euro-Mediterranean Partnership itself has recognised the essential contribution that civil society can make to the development process and has stressed the importance of exchanges between civil societies.


Main AimThe principal objective of the project is to engage Civil Society in Malta, Slovenia and Cyprus in a European Dialogue about the future of the Euro-Med Region and influence an effective EU development policy.


Main AimThe project partners intend to create an action plan, based on the concerns of their partners in the South, to advocate for progress in the Barcelona Process that has a real impact on Poverty Eradication and that contributes to sustainable livelihoods at the local grassroots level.


Main Aimthe objective of this project is to explicate the ownership of CSOs in the Southern Mediterranean of what constitutes sustainable livelihoods in their regions and nations, and build/strengthen the capacity of Malta, Cyprus and Slovenia to advocate for these concerns to be usefully employed by the European Institutions in any ongoing and future evaluations of the process and in any new negotiations related to the process.


Positive points of the Barcelona process●Projects realised as part of the MEDA programme

●The Anna Lindh Foundation for Intercultural dialogue

●The agreement on water, environment and energy


Positive points of the Barcelona process

●The “euromediteranean” parliament

●Encouraging administrative reform.

●Help in Judicial upgrading strategy.


Positive points of the Barcelona process

●Support given for fiscal reform and public finance

management.

●Help in economic and political reform.


Negative points of the Barcelona process

● Development gap between “the two shores/bank

countries” of the Mediterranean not taken into account

●Gap between the goals and the means implemented -

for instance MEDA used up 1.5 billion € againsted the

2.3 billion € planned



● Lack of Euromed bank institutions

●Lack of commitment of the civil society in the setting up

of a genuine partnership between both banks/shores of

the Mediterranean



● Considering southern countries and especially

Maghreb countries as a hot suburb of a “prosperous

metropole”.

●no genuine investment in peace efforts – with particular

reference to the conflict between the Israelis and the

Palestinians.



●Lack of an overall reform strategy for the public sector

●The Agricultural sector (and fisheries).


Experiments that provide a useful pathway of empowerment

● MEDA projects

●5 plus summits



●Projects involving empowerment of women.

●Better opportunities for job creation for women and the less skilled workers. ( in some countries e.g. Jordan women comprise about just over 12% of total work force.)



●Awareness campaigns.

●Training opportunities about empowerment.


Basket of indicators

●Income per capita

●Investment rate towards the south of the

Mediterranean as compared to Europe

●Number of Euro-Mediterranean bank institutions



●Demographic indicators (birth, life expectancy, etc.)

●Social indicators ( education/schooling, religion,

unemployment)

●GNI



●Degree of civil society organisation

●Number of spaces for dialogue and exchange

●Governance and Civil Society



●Poverty Reduction

●Youth Unemployment

●Security and conflict likelihood



●Structural Reform

●Economic Cooperation

●Cooperation on Technical Regulations and Standards


Fair trade, with its holistic approach to some of the biggest problems that the world is facing today, is one of the results of this positive vibe among local communities and groups of people in the South and in the North. It is in this context that one can imagine a Mediterranean region in which people promote respect for the human being and for the environment through trade.

Date post:	15-Jan-2016
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EU Neighbourhood – Southern Mediterranean. The Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Ministers of...

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