Why not move the partnership seat to Malta?

The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, which the EU and 12 Mediterranean countries launched in November 1995, represents a departure from the earlier Euro-Mediterranean policies which were based on development cooperation rather than on partnership of equals.

The idea is to transform the Euro-Mediterranean region into an area of dialogue, exchange and cooperation, guaranteeing peace, stability and prosperity to the benefit of the partners.

Today, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership has one captain, the European Commission, that for most part tries to save the ship from sinking deep into the Mediterranean Sea.

It is not a surprise then that the Mediterranean partner states are arguing that they lost the "sense of ownership" over the partnership.

One way for the EU to strengthen its Mediterranean dimension and give the Mediterranean partners the responsibility for the partnership is by relocating the whole of the EMP's administrative and institutional system from Brussels to Valletta.

Conceiving Malta as the focal point of the Mediterranean (a phrase stamped by Albert Ganado) is but a natural consequence of it being at the heart of the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Though Malta is the southernmost Christian European fortress, the island is still a meeting point between Christianity and Islam and the Maltese language and culture accepted and assimilated Semitic influence.

Since its independence, Malta vowed to work for peace in the Mediterranean and promoted and contributed to any security initiatives made in the Euro-Mediterranean area.

As a small state, it was Malta's natural interest to join the EMP, which offers it another opportunity to promote peace, security, and stability across the Euro-Mediterranean region, eventually becoming one of the most active Mediterranean partners in that effort.

As a European neutral country with a Mediterranean identity, Malta became an acceptable Mediterranean partner by both the Arab EMP partners and Israel.

Thus, the Second Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference, originally due to be held in Tunisia, in the end was held on "neutral" soil, in Valletta, in mid-April 1997, resolving the Arab partners' refusal to allow the conference to be held on Arab territory because of Israel's settlements policy.

With its balanced foreign policy agenda, Malta is constantly doing its utmost to create a safe and prosperous Euro-Mediterranean area while strengthening its Euro-Mediterranean identity.

The island's history and geography, coupled with its Mediterranean culture and, soon, EU membership, are all placing Malta at the focal point of the Mediterranean, at the very heart of the Euro-Mediterranean region.

As the Maltese are native Euro-Mediterranean, they have the potential to unite the two shores of the Mediterranean basin.

As President Guido de Marco puts it: "We are a European country, with a language and a culture which underlines the Mediterranean character of our country". As an EU member state, Malta should play a leading role in representing and guarding the Euro-Mediterranean region within the EU framework.

For all these reasons, Valletta should be declared as the new capital of the evolving Euro-Mediterranean order and the institutional and administrative system of the EMP should be relocated from Brussels to its natural capital, Malta.

Ms Pardo is a fellow researcher at the International and European Research Unit (IERU) of the University of Ghent-Belgium