'Bring the Euro-Med's centre of gravity further south' - Frendo

MALTA'S Foreign Minister Michael Frendo, speaking at an international forum in Monaco last Thursday, said that to inject a much-needed new spirit in the Euro-Med process "we need to bring the centre of gravity of the process closer south".

Dr Frendo described the Euro-Med 10th Anniversary Summit in Barcelona in the last week of November as certainly not a failure since it adopted two very important documents: the five-year Work Programme and the Code of Conduct on Terrorism. However, he said, the absence of many Arab leaders at the highest level in contrast with the representation on the EU side indicated that, although the agreement on the two important documents showed that all the partners were committed to the process, a stronger political spirit was required for the process.

In this regard, Minister Frendo said that in this regard he found the Spanish proposals for a Euro-Med Secretariat and a spokesman for Euro-Med interesting and worthy of serious consideration. "To strengthen the Euro-Med Process and to re-inject the right spirit in it we need to bring the centre of gravity of the process closer south", Dr Frendo stated.

Minister Frendo was co-chairing, with Terence Brown, executive director of the European Investment Bank, a plenary session of the CransMontana Forum in Monaco on Thursday on "The European Enlargement and the Great Mediterranean Area: The Mediterranean in the European Union Global Policy".

The other members of the panel included Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha, Macedonia's Prime Minister Vladko Buckovski, Ivica Tomic, Croatia's Assistant Minister for European Integration, Juan Prat, Spanish Ambassador-at-large for Mediterranean Affairs, and François Gouyette, Ambassador for Mediterranean Affairs of France.

Dr Frendo said that, complementary to the Euro-Med process, another process was developing within the EU among the Mediterranean member states. He said the first meeting of foreign ministers of EU Mediterranean countries held in Toulouse in November showed that the co-operation of countries with shared historical, cultural and political experience and a common geo-political context can best contribute to keeping the Mediterranean high on the EU's agenda.

Dr Frendo also referred to the need for urgent resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the importance of addressing extremism and fundamentalism in securing the Mediterranean as a region of peace and stability.

With regard to the Balkan region, Dr Frendo said that Malta was one of those few countries that from the outset emphasised the importance of opening EU membership negotiations with Croatia, "also as a clear message of a European perspective for the rest of the countries of the Western Balkans".

Later on Thursday, Minister Frendo had a private meeting with the newly-enthroned Prince Albert of Monaco at the Grimaldi Palace.

Dr Frendo attended the forum in Monaco on his way back to Malta from the EU Foreign Ministers' Financial Perspectives conclave in Brussels and is expected to leave Malta again today for a meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations Council in Brussels tomorrow, which is also expected to continue to discuss Financial Perspectives in further preparation for the European Council on Thursday and Friday.