Europe and its neighbours: the way forward

The European Movement (Malta) organised an international conference at the Aula Magna, Foundation for International Studies, Valletta, on November 7.

The conference was inaugurated by Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami and was also addressed by Foreign Minister Joe Borg, the MLP's spokesman on the EU, Evarist Bartolo, and by Alternattiva Demokratika vice-chairman Mario Mallia.

A number of overseas speakers, guests of the European Movement, were also present. These included Dr Stelios Stavridis, holder of the Mediterranean Chair at the University of Valencia, Dr Neville Waites of the University of Reading, Mr Chalres-Ferdinand Nothomb, former Speaker and former Foreign Minister of Belgium and President of the European Movement in Belgium, Dr Charalombos Tsardanidis of the University of Piraeus, Ms Elif Uzgoren of Dokuz Eylul University of Izmir and Mr Lysandros M. Avraamides from Intercollege, Cyprus.

As was to be expected the conference focused on the Mediterranean dimension of the "Wider Europe - Neighbourhood Policy" launched earlier this year by the European Commission and later endorsed by the European Council. What follows is a brief summary of the Maltese views. The full presentations including those of the overseas speakers will be made available on the European Movement's Website www.euro-movement.org.mt.

Managing the Mediterranean's resources together

Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami proposed a set of ideas designed to breathe fresh initiative into the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. Some of the ideas related to Malta's support for current initiatives within the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. Others, such as the proposal to set up an agency to manage the Mediterranean's resources which lie outside national jurisdiction, was innovative.

The Prime Minister stressed the importance of increased pan-European solidarity which will lead to the setting up of the most effective forms of Euro-Mediterranean common structures.

Among these structures is the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Forum which may be turned into an Assembly generating co-operation among law-makers.

Malta also supports the idea of setting up a Euro-Mediterranean Investment Bank which should act as a great stimulus for the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises in the region.

The other regional initiative supported by Malta is the Euro-Mediterranean Foundation of the Dialogue on Cultures. Malta has offered to host the seat of the dialogue, though it is also relevant to state that Italy and Egypt have also pitched in with separate bids of their own.

Malta is also proposing an agency "that could bring about the co-operative and holistic management of those resources that are best managed collectively, such as those of the sea beyond the limits of national jurisdiction..."

Such an agency would create an effective network favouring peace and development in the region. The Prime Minister called for the joint management of biological resources of the Mediterranean by both the European and non-European states of the Mediterranean on the principle that all marine environments demand a holistic approach.

"The establishment of a Mediterranean common sea heritage management system may be the only rational prospect open to European Union initiative with the co-operation of non-European Mediterranean partners", added the Prime Minister, and this could also encompass illegal immigration, the environment and communications.

The Prime Minister expressed the hope that instead of being further sidelined as a result of enlargement, the Mediterranean could indeed enjoy unprecedented prospects of success as a result of the initiatives mentioned above.

Achieving the EU's and Malta's goals

Foreign Minister Joe Borg reiterated that since independence, Malta has taken an active role in promoting Mediterranean interests. Then following the birth of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership in 1995, Malta continued to promote where and when possible initiatives that seek to promote peace, stability and prosperity in the region. These are the salient aims of the Partnership.

Dr Borg stressed that EU membership enhances further this facet of Malta's foreign policy and strengthens its ability to push forward the Mediterranean agenda.

Malta wishes to strengthen the traditional ties it has developed with the countries of the Mediterranean region and perceives the creation of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area as the first step towards the enhancement of economic prosperity and increased stability in the region.

The Foreign Minister perceives the EU's "Neighbourhood Policy" as a tool that would help Malta achieve its long-standing foreign policy objectives. For Dr Borg the enlargement of the EU, the Barcelona Process and the "Wider Europe - New Neighbourhood" policy launched by the EU are three complementary processes.

On joining the EU in May 2004 Malta becomes one of the countries on the southernmost border of the Union. Dr Borg stressed: "We will utilise this added opportunity provided by the New Neighbourhood policy to further our and the Union's interests in the region, and to further the interests of the region within the EU, seizing each challenge posed by the volatility of the region as an opportunity to promote co-operation and dialogue."

The walls have started coming down

Evarist Bartolo, the Malta Labour Party spokesman on EU affairs, reminded the audience of what Robert Frost once wrote that "Good fences make good neighbours", however, the spokesman observed walls have started to come down in the world so that we increasingly live in a borderless world which, among other things, also entails that problems become borderless.

It is rather unproductive to speak about foreign policy, the main challenge is how to handle problems. Related to this is the manner in which resources are employed. The EU has the resources to tackle many of the challenges of the region.

In the Mediterranean region the EU should adopt a bottom-up approach. This means that the EU's actions should aim at empowering the people in the countries of the region to become full participants in the Barcelona process.

Furthermore, it is useless for the EU to prepare programmes without intervening in the countries themselves to help the people there put them into practice.

In this context, Mr Bartolo stressed the need of building capabilities in the countries of the Euro-Mediterranean region to help them better use the funds that are made available to them by the EU but he warned against the danger of allowing Euro-Mediterranean relations to fall into a donor-recipient mode.

To enhance its performance in the region, the EU must aim for a more active private-public partnership. It could also directly support small projects to help the people of the Mediterranean countries acquire the skills with which to handle bigger ones in the future.

In the course of his presentation, Mr Bartolo also made reference to the problem of illegal immigration and in particular the millions presently waiting in many of the Northern African countries for the opportunity to cross over to Europe.

Mr Bartolo favoured a deepening of the EU's neighbourhood policy to face this and similar challenges.

Love thy neighbour as thyself

Mr Mario Mallia, vice-chairman, Alternattiva Demokratika, said that the EU's "Neighbourhood Policy" is welcome particularly if it breathes new life in the moribund Barcelona Process launched in 1995 which has become crucial to the EU since the events of September 11 to bridge the gulf that has opened between the Islamic World and the West.

One of the dangers that the Neighbourhood policy poses to the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership is that the latter may be transformed into just a component of the former.

The Greens feel that it is imperative that the EU does not adopt a one size fits all policy when dealing with the non-EU countries of the Mediterranean region. Furthermore, the principle of free trade must not be allowed to ride roughshod over social and environmental considerations.

Mr Mallia stressed that within the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, 'democratic control' must be strengthened as otherwise the free trade area will expose a democratic deficit in which the non-member states have to adopt and apply whole sections of EU law without being represented in the decision-making institutions.

Europe can speed up the development of democracy and the observance of human rights and democratic principles in the Mediterranean region. The bridging of cultures is also a main challenge of the Partnership and "no stone should be left unturned to lower the dividing walls."

Malta's geographical location and cultural unity in diversity places it in a very strategic situation and although it has little to offer the EU, Malta can become the voice of the south in the EU itself.

Mr Mallia argued that Malta had already contributed a lot to the development of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. However, there is still potential for more. Malta must take a proactive role and it needs to perceive its neutrality as an active one.

Active neutrality increases Malta's moral standing. The increasing presence of military vessels in Malta's harbours was perceived by Alternattiva Demokratika with grave concern. The higher profile obtained by Malta as a result of the membership application should be skilfully employed to promote active neutrality and not to undermine.

Towards the end of his presentation, Mr Mallia zoomed in on the illegal immigration problem in the Mediterranean and refugee problem faced by many countries of the region among them Malta. The speaker heavily criticised the Maltese government in the way it handles refugees suggesting that asylum seekers should be given temporary permits to reside in Malta until their case is heard.

"We cannot imprison our neighbours because they are guilty of running for their lives, of seeking compassion and refuge from hunger, persecution and death. Neighbours need to be treated with respect."