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Foreign Affairs and Investment Promotion Minister John Dalli this week led a delegation to the EuroMed mid term Ministerial Meeting in Dublin.
Malta and its fellow nine other accession states were present for the first time in their capacity as full members of the European Union. Minister John Dalli participated with his counterparts in discussions on a wide range of issues, particularly the Middle East Peace process, Iraq, EU Strategic Partnership for the Mediterranean and the Middle East as well as the European Neighbourhood Policy. Ministers also discussed political and economic reform in the Arab world.
Addressing the Plenary session of the meeting, Dalli comments, “To survive we have to face and overcome such obstacles as rampant globalisation, terrorism, organised crime, illegal migration, trafficking of all kinds, money laundering.
“We live in a very volatile region. It is a unique region that brings together several countries with different systems of government, values and characteristics that would require time to reconcile and which call on us to be sensitive to the cultures, traditions and beliefs that formed our heritage over centuries.
“Looking ahead we need to examine the new instruments that are being proposed by the European Union and how these projects can contribute to the overall success of the Barcelona partnership project. The ‘New Neighbourhood Policy’ and the ‘EU Strategy for Partnership in the Mediterranean and the Middle East’ came about as a result of the experience and events that have taken place in the recent past. The New Neighbourhood Policy, designed to bring about a ‘circle of friends’ to work in harmony with the Union should enable the individual partner country to move ahead at the speed that it can afford. On the other hand, the Strategy which is all embracing commits the European Union to deepen its involvement in regional issues.
“In order to adapt to today’s realities we need to change, and change comes at a price. The qualities that we possess, in human and other resources as well as the heritage that we boost should serve us in good stead.”
Dalli also reviewed the work of the process to date and expressed the manner in which the process should go forward. He also welcomed the outcome of the recent quartet meeting and augured that the forthcoming Arab Summit, which will be addressed by the Presidency of the European Union, will consider the outcome of the quartet meeting. He stated that we live in a time of change and referred to the new instruments that the European Union is proposing to compliment the existing Barcelona process. With reference to the Middle East, Dalli highlighted the need for the parties concerned to engage on a serious political dialogue in the framework of the Road Map that envisages the creation of a Palestinian State living in peace with Israel.
He welcomed the setting up of the EuroMed Parliamentary Assembly, and the reinforcement of the Facility for the Euro Mediterranean Investment Partnership (FEMIP). Minister of Foreign Affairs and Investment Promotion John Dalli congratulated Egypt for the agreement reached for the Anna Lindh Foundation to be hosted in Alexandria. Ministers also agreed that in its activities the Foundation would be particularly attentive to supporting events in Malta along with the other two candidates.
EU to give EUR1.24 billion to Med neighbours in 2005-6
The visit follows on the heels of the EU’s decision Tuesday to give EUR1.24 billion in assistance to neighbouring Mediterranean countries in 2005 and 2006.
The Commission approved the funding for co-operation and external aid operations under its Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, which links the EU with 12 much poorer countries around the Mediterranean Sea with the goal of a free trade area.
"This decision illustrates the extent of our political commitment to the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership: we put our money where our mouth is," External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten said in a statement.
The announcement comes on the eve of a meeting in Dublin of foreign ministers of the Partnership, expected to be dominated by battered Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and the impending entry into the process of long-time pariah Libya.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana was to brief the Euro-Mediterranean ministers Tuesday on Middle East talks in New York by the quartet of the United States, the EU, Russia and the United Nations.
On a landmark visit to Brussels last week, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi met Commission President Romano Prodi, who said the EU was committed to integrating Libya into the partnership.
Libya has not yet formally applied to join, although Gaddafi is seen as keen to integrate his country into the international community after paying compensation for past airliner bombings and abandoning its weapons of mass destruction programmes.
The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership was set up in 1995, bringing together the 15 countries that then made up the EU with Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.
It was designed to enhance relations between the countries to the North and South of the Mediterranean and promote human rights and good governance through trade, aid, political and cultural co-operation.
The European Commission, the European Investment Bank and the World Bank, all major donors to members of the Partnership, signed a Memorandum of Understanding Tuesday to improve relations between donors to the region.
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