MARSEILLES, France (IPS) -- European Union
(EU) foreign ministers at the Fourth Conference of the Euro-Mediterranean
Partnership expressed hope that a Palestinian State would soon be created,
though under pressure from the participating Arab government delegates.
Also known as the Barcelona Process, begun
in 1995 in the northeastern Spanish city, the partnership is an economic
cooperation project involving the EU and its neighboring states along the
eastern and southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
Among the non-European participants in
the process are the Palestinian National Authority, Cyprus, Israel, Jordan,
Lebanon, Malta, Syria and Turkey. Libya and Mauritania are involved as
special guests.
The goals of the EU in the project are
to create a free trade zone by 2010, improve security conditions and reduce
illegal immigration from North Africa.
The EU representatives want to see the
creation of a sovereign, democratic, viable and peaceful Palestinian State
in the short term, and preferably via a negotiated route, they said in
a declaration released at the close of the two-day conference yesterday
in this southern French city.
The Israeli delegation vetoed the approval
of the declaration as an official document of the Euro-Med Partnership,
the decisions of which must be adopted unanimously.
Nevertheless, the position expressed by
the EU delegates was the most important result of the conference, convoked
to study the regional economic aid project and strengthen it by establishing
new goals for the 2001 to 2006 period.
The original agenda, however, was clouded
by the repercussions of the new wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence that
erupted Sept. 28. The clashes have already caused more than 220 deaths,
the vast majority of the victims being Palestinians.
During the conference sessions, delegations
from Arab countries accused the EU of taking an "immoral" and "cowardly"
stance on the conflict.
Palestinian minister of Economic Co-operation,
Nabil Chaath, stated the EU's "neutrality" is "pernicious," and demanded
the EU's active participation in resolving the conflict. Syria and Lebanon
boycotted the Marseilles meeting in protest of Israel's attendance.
Other Arab countries at the conference did not sign the declaration of
the EU delegates, saying it did not reflect Arab demands. The assessment
of the economic co-operation project confirmed that it has produced few
results and that there have been difficulties in implementing it.
The plan to create a free trade zone by
2010 is "illusory, especially if the EU does not generously reformulate
its aid contributions," said the Economic and Social Council of France
(CESF), an independent research center based in Paris that is monitoring
the Barcelona Process. The EU should also considerably improve the
efficiency of its development assistance in order to make it the free trade
zone achievable goal, added CESF.
Of the $3 billion the EU designated in
its 1995-1999 budget for development programs in non-European Mediterranean
countries, just 26 percent has been spent, primarily due to bureaucratic
delays.
In order to improve the utilization of
these resources, the EU decided to reform its procedures for assigning
funds and eliminate hundreds of "dormant" projects, which obtained financing
but have not made any progress since they were presented. The CESF
criticized the EU for having excluded all agricultural products from its
plans to create a free trade zone in the Mediterranean.
In Marseilles, delegates approved the 2001-2006
EU budget for development aid in non-European countries of the region.
The European Commission, the EU's executive body, had proposed a budget
of $5.8 billion, but the British delegation to the conference cut the total
to $4.5 billion.
This week's conference, for the first time
in the history of the Barcelona Process, was preceded by a forum of non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) from the Euro-Med Partnership's 27 participating countries.
The NGO delegates applauded Palestinian
Leila Shahid, a participant in the conference as well as the previous forum,
coinciding with the criticism of the European policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, and demanding a more active EU role in the Middle East.
"Europe cannot leave diplomatic action
in the region in the hands of the United States," declared Bernard Stasi,
who represented the French NGOs and served as the forum's president. But
a French diplomat in Marseilles commented that "a united EU position regarding
the Middle East can only be minimal and completely rhetorical, given the
diversity of opinions of the various governments," and stressed that Europe
is not losing influence in the Middle East.
"The truth is that the EU never had influence
there. Europe does what it can: it offers economic assistance, and even
convinced Israel and its Arab neighbors to gather around the same table.
Given the current situation, that is quite
an achievement," said the French official.