• Politics & Cooperation

Report On The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. Status & Progress 2009

Introduction: An Evolving EMP in an Evolving Context in the Mediterranean

Senén Florensa. General Director of the European Institute of the Mediterranean

The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) has experienced a marked evolution since its establishment at the Barcelona Conference in 1995 as the reference framework for political, economic and social relations between the European Union (EU) and the Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs). Indeed, a number of new policies, instruments and structures have been introduced, in particular since 2005, namely:

1. The Five Year Work Programme approved at the Barcelona Summit in November 2005 that updated and re-defined the approach followed by the Barcelona 1995 Work Programme;

1. The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) progressively established between 2002 and 2006 and the new European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) which entered into force in January 2007 to fund EU regional and bilateral cooperation programmes in the EU’s neighbourhood;

1. The Union for the Mediterranean launched in July 2008 at the Paris Summit with the progressive establishment of a new institutional structure (Co-Presidency, Secretariat, Joint Permanent Committee), the accession of new Mediterranean Partners and the identification of six concrete region-wide projects;

1. The framework for an EU-Morocco Advanced Status agreed in October 2008 and the negotiations on course to establish special relations with other Mediterranean Partner Countries;

• A set of new institutions and structures of a Euro-Mediterranean nature, such as the Anna Lindh Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures, the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (2005) and the Euro-Mediterranean University (2008), soon to be followed by a Euro-Mediterranean Local and Regional Assembly (see section 3).

Simultaneously, the so-called Barcelona Process has followed its course, MEDA regional programmes have continued being implemented, often replaced by new projects financed in the framework of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) and the sectoral dynamics has followed its course as Ministerial Meetings were convened. This report reviews the main elements of this process.

Aims and Scope of the Report

This report was produced as part of the IEMed Survey of Experts and Actors on the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. Its main aim is to take stock of the developments and initiatives undertaken in the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership since 2005, including the multilateral track of the European Neighbourhood Policy and the more recent Union for the Mediterranean, and provide the reader with a reference guide for the content of the Partnership. As such, it does not go deep in the analysis of any particular field of action, but it does provide a quick factual description of what the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership is doing in any particular field.

The diversity of the Euro-Mediterranean process is such that this review of Euro-Mediterranean activities and projects is certainly not exhaustive, but at least all major initiatives and developments are put together in a single report, so that it can be useful as a “primer for beginners” material. But, as the IEMed Survey of Experts and Actors on the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership shows clearly, many of the programmes and instruments of the Partnership, in particular the most recent and innovative ones, for instance in the framework of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument, are largely unknown even for experts in this area, so the report can be also useful as a kind of quick reference thesaurus on the Euro-Mewditerranean Partnership for actors and experts. In any case, since this report is conceived as a guide it endeavours to be as objective and as factual as possible. As such, the sources we have used are mainly official ones (see Annex).

However, in such a report it is of course not possible to cover all aspects of the EMP. Therefore it focuses on multilateral programmes and dynamics and on the “cooperation” and “institutional” dimensions rather than on the political one. The bilateral aspects (implementation of the ENP Action Plans, progress of different countries, which would require a country-by-country analysis), and the purely political ones (degree of commitment by different Mediterranean and European partners, assessment of the successive presidencies and co-presidencies, political conflicts hampering progress within the EMP) have not been analysed. On the other hand, the general economic and geopolitical context does not constitute the object of this report, although it is key to assessing the difficulties the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership has to face and to project the future of the Mediterranean and the EMP.

The report has been translated to French, Spanish and Catalan.

A New Union for the Mediterranean in a Context of Crisis and Conflicts

Two major developments have affected the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership during the last years: the persistence of major conflicts in the region and the global economic and financial crisis which burst out in the second half of 2008.

Three armed conflicts had a major impact on Euro-Mediterranean relationships. First of all, it has been estimated that the Israel-Hezbollah confrontation in Lebanon, in August 2006, resulted in 1,109 civilians being killed in Lebanon and 43 on the Israeli side whereas damages have been estimated at several billion dollars. Second, after the Israeli campaign against the Hamas in the Gaza Strip in December 2008-January 2009, it has been estimated that 1,314 Palestinian were killed, most of them civilians, as well as 13 Israelis. Most of the Gaza Strip key infrastructures were also destroyed. Finally, the evolution of the situation in Iraq also profoundly affected the whole region during this period and one should also not forget the persistence of other unresolved conflicts and disputes such as Western Sahara or Cyprus.

The result is that the Arab-Israeli conflict has blocked the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership for most of the last year. After the Paris Summit on the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) held in July 2008, where the League of Arab States participated as an observer, the demand of Arab Mediterranean Partner Countries to grant the Arab League observer status in all Euro-Mediterranean meetings (and not only in the bi-annual summits) and the opposition of Israel, paralysed the functioning of the EMP for several months. Euro-Med Committees, Senior Officials Meetings and Ministerial Meetings were cancelled or postponed. After an agreement was reached in the Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference held in Marseille on the 3-4 November to invite the Arab League as a permanent observer to all meetings, the reactions of Arab MPCs after the Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip have once again blocked the functioning of the EMP and the implementation of the decisions on the Union for the Mediterranean until now (May 2009). The establishment of the new Israeli coalition Government under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu after the general elections held in this country in February 2009 is another factor to take into account in this complex equation. Prospects of a solution to this long lasting conflict are bleak.

The financial and economic crisis endangers the increased growth the MPCs had achieved in the last three years (in the 4.5-6% range, with a 3% yearly job creation rate), by reducing the income from oil and gas exports (Algeria, Egypt, Syria) and other mineral products (Morocco, Tunisia), from migrant remittances (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan), from tourism (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon) and to a certain extent from manufacturing exports as the European demand contracts (Morocco, Tunisia). It will also possibly tense up on-going negotiations for agricultural and services liberalization and make more difficult the mobilization of additional resources for EU-MPCs cooperation in the run-up to the Financial Perspectives 2014-2020. The crisis is also increasing the political sensitiveness on the migratory issues as a result of the increase in the rate of unemployment amongst migrant workers in Europe as well as reinforced illegal migration pressures at EU borders emanating from the southern shores of the Mediterranean and beyond.

Proliferation of EU Proximity Strategies and Launching of the Union for the Mediterranean

In this context, the EU external action and its strategy towards the countries of its neighbourhood are becoming increasingly complex and differentiated.

Proliferation of EU Proximity Strategies

Today at least eight different frameworks are structuring the relations between the EU-27 on the one hand and the Mediterranean Partner Countries included in the Union for the Mediterranean on the other:

1. The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (1995) as amended by the Union for the Mediterranean (2008);

2. The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP);

3. The 2004 Strategic Partnership with the Mediterranean and the Middle East (SPMME);

4. The Pre-Accession Strategy (PAS) (Turkey, Croatia);

5. The Stabilisation and Association Process in the Balkans (SAP) (Bosnia, Croatia, and Montenegro);

6. The Black Sea Synergy Initiative (Turkey);

7. The Cotonou Agreement (Mauritania);

8. The Advanced Status granted to Morocco in October 2008.

In this report only the first two frameworks, i.e. the EMP-UfM and the ENP, are considered. One should also note for instance that Turkey is still a founding Member of the EMP but is not involved in the ENP but in the EU’s pre-accession strategy. Algeria is not interested in participating to the ENP, but has agreed to negotiate an Energy Strategic Partnership with the EU. Syria is still waiting for the entry into force of the Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreement to participate fully in the ENP. Also after Mauritania and Albania, newcomers notably from the Balkans have been welcome on the occasion of the 2008 Paris Summit (see below). This is a major innovation. For the first time since 1957 some countries of the Balkans are participating and are involved in a comprehensive Euro-Mediterranean framework for cooperation.

In other words, the 2009 Euro-Mediterranean equation is very different from that of 1995 in terms of policies and strategies but also in terms of participating States. For the time being the situation is also still confused as the definitive technical and procedural aspects of the Union for the Mediterranean have not yet been finalised.

Launching of the Union for the Mediterranean

At the European Council of 13 March 2008 the 27 Member States, after long and intense diplomatic debates that preceded the meeting, adopted a statement entitled: “Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean” according to which: “The European Council approved the principle of a Union for the Mediterranean which will include the Member States of the EU and the non-EU Mediterranean coastal states.”

The European Commission then published, on 20 May 2008, a Communication entitled “Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean”, putting forward more concrete proposals to be discussed at the Paris Summit of July 2008.

The French EU Presidency then organised the Euro-Mediterranean Summit of the Heads of States or Government of 13 July 2008 where a “Joint Declaration of the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean” was adopted by the participants with a view to enhancing multilateral relations, increasing co-ownership of the Barcelona Process, setting governance on the basis of equal footing and translating it into concrete projects, more visible to citizens.

The Union for the Mediterranean brought together in Paris 43 European and Mediterranean States, the EU institutions and a number of regional organisations. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Monaco and Montenegro, which have accepted the acquis of the Barcelona Process, have been welcomed as new partners on this occasion.

According to the Paris Declaration, “a reinforced partnership – The Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean aims to build on that consensus to pursue cooperation, political and socioeconomic reform and modernisation on the basis of equality and mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty.” The Union for the Mediterranean will build on the acquis and reinforce the achievements of the Barcelona Process. Moreover, the Union for the Mediterranean will be “complementary to EU bilateral relations which will continue under existing policy frameworks such as the Association Agreements, the European Neighbourhood Policy action plans, and, in the case of Mauritania, the African Caribbean Pacific (ACP) framework.”

The Union for the Mediterranean project is based on three essential principles:

1. a political mobilisation at the highest level through Summits every two years;
2. a governance on an equal footing (See also point 3 for the institutional arrangements);
3. a prioritising of concrete projects with a regional dimension that create de facto solidarity.

In this regard, the Heads of State and Government considered that it was crucial to translate the goals set by the Barcelona Declaration of 1995 and the work programme of 2005 into major regional concrete projects. These projects, listed in the Annex to the Joint Declaration, are the following:

– De-pollution of the Mediterranean (including coastal and protected marine areas, focusing on the “water and waste sector”);

– Maritime and Land Highways (development of motorways of the sea, including the connection of ports, creation of coastal motorways and the modernisation of the trans-Maghreb train, cooperation in the field of maritime security and safety);

– Civil Protection (a joint Civil Protection programme on prevention, preparation and response to disasters, linking the region more closely to the EU Civil Protection Mechanism);

– Alternative Energies – Mediterranean Solar Plan (market deployment as well as research and development of all alternative sources of energy – explore the feasibility, development and creation of a Mediterranean Solar Plan);

– Higher Education and Research, Euro-Mediterranean University (setting up a Euro-Mediterranean University, based in Slovenia, which will develop postgraduate and research programmes; using the possibilities offered to the partner countries by existing higher education cooperation programmes such as Tempus and Erasmus Mundus; enhancing quality and ensuring the relevance of vocational training to labour market needs);

– Mediterranean Business Development Initiative (assisting the existing entities in partner countries operating in support of micro, small- and medium-sized enterprises and providing them with resources in the form of technical assistance and financial instruments).

Institutional Development and Involvement of Actors

Since 2005, a growing institutionalization of the EMP has taken place. In the run-up to the 10th anniversary of the EMP, two Euro-Mediterranean institutions were created: the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA) in 2004 and the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures in 2005.

The Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA) is a consultative body giving its opinion on all issues concerning the EMP and addressing resolutions or recommendations to the Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Meetings. It is made up of 260 members, 130 of them European (81 from national parliaments of Member States and 49 from the European Parliament) and 130 from MPCs parliaments. It holds one plenary session every year. The EMPA has so far held eight plenary sessions between March 2004 and March 2009, and issued declarations on various issues. It has three “permanent Committees” and one “ad hoc Committee”:

• Committee on economic, financial, social and education affairs;
• Committee for promotion of the quality of life, human exchanges and culture;
• Committee on the rights of women in Euro-Mediterranean Partnership countries;
• Ad hoc Committee on energy and environment.

The Secretariat of the EMPA is located at the European Parliament.

The Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures was established in 2005 in Alexandria (Egypt) as a separate legal body with autonomous personality to promote cultural dialogue, respect for diversity and the visibility of the Barcelona Process, favouring exchanges, cooperation and mobility. Youth, women and migrants are its main targets. It has created a network of 43 national networks of institutions and civil society organizations in the field of culture, education and youth (the network has by now a total of around 2,000 member organizations). Its Board of Governors is made up of representatives of Member States of the EMP (Euro-Med Committee).

It has six strategic axes: Ideas and Ideologies; Education; Cultural Production; Media; Religion, Spirituality and Values; Cities and Diversity. Between 2006 and 2008 it gave over 280 grants to civil society organizations in more than thirty countries. It has created two Euro-Mediterranean prizes (for Journalism and for the Dialogue between Cultures) and it has launched a three-year programme in the field of literature for children to promote reading in Arab countries. Its budget comes from the EU budget and the contributions from EU Member States and MPCs. For 2005-2008, it amounted to €11 million (5 of them from MEDA funds). For 2009-2011, it amounts to €14 million (half from ENPI, the rest from Partner States). Roughly 35% of its budget is devoted to staff and administrative expenses and the rest to activities and calls for proposals.

The Euro-Mediterranean Facility for Investment and Partnership (FEMIP) was created in 2002. FEMIP is a financial facility within the European Investment Bank. FEMIP programmes include:

• loans to MPCs, both for direct private sector support (credit lines distributed through local banks) and as loans for infrastructure projects (energy, transport and telecommunications, environment and social infrastructures);
• technical assistance to MPCs;
• risk capital facilities for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises.

The two latter items are financed through an ENPI regional contribution of €32 million a year for 2007-2013. FEMIP has a staff of 75 persons. Since 2004, it has granted €6.7 billion in finance contracts signed in the MPCs and it has a lending envelope available of €7.6 billion more for 2009-2013. In 2009, the European Court of Auditors published an auditing report of its activities. FEMIP is the funding pillar for three of the six UfM projects: De-pollution of the Mediterranean, Maritime and Land Highways, and Mediterranean Solar Plan.

At the Marseille Ministerial Conference, a new institutional structure for the whole Euro-Mediterranean Partnership was adopted, including:

• A system of biannual Summits of Heads of State and Government. After Paris, the next one is to take place under the Spanish Presidency of the EU in the first half of 2010.

• A system of Co-presidencies applying to all Summits, Ministerial Meetings, Senior Officials Meetings and others. For 2008-2010, the Co-presidency for the MPCs is run by Egypt. The EU Co-Presidency was assumed by the French EU Presidency in July-December 2008, jointly by the EU Czech Presidency and France in January-July 2009 and jointly by the EU Swedish Presidency and France in July-December 2009.

• A reinforced Senior Officials Committee (made up of national Ambassadors for the Union for the Mediterranean, in most of the cases the same as for the EMP). It is mandated to deal with all aspects of the initiative, prepare Ministerial Meetings and submit to them project proposals and the annual work programme. The first meeting of this new Committee of Senior Officials of the UfM took place in Brussels on the 23 April 2009, and it has met again on the 7^th July, the 29-30 September and the 27 October 2009, but they were devoted mainly to the situation in the Middle East and its impact in the Union for the Mediterranean. But they could not unblock the political stalemate, to the point that a Foreign Affairs Minister’s Meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean announced for the 25-25 November 2009 in Istanbul has been postponed indefinitely.

• A Joint Permanent Committee based in Brussels to assist and prepare the meetings of Senior Officials and to ensure appropriate follow-up, as well as reacting rapidly if an exceptional situation arises. This Joint Committee should, in principle, replace the former Euro-Med Committee.

• A Secretariat whose functions will be limited, in principle, to the identification and follow-up of UfM projects, the promotion of new projects and the search for funding and for implementation partners. This is the only new institution to be created which seems not have a role for the whole EMP, but only for the UfM projects, whereas the European Commission will continue to manage the EMP regional programmes as it has done so far. The Secretariat will have a separate legal personality with an autonomous status and its mandate will be of a technical nature subject to the guidelines of Senior Officials, but it will be composed of seconded officials from participants in the process. According to the Marseille Declaration, the Secretariat will have one Secretary General and five Deputy Secretary Generals. It will be based in Barcelona and, according to the Marseille Declaration, it was supposed to start functioning in May 2009 according to statutes to be adopted by Senior Officials before the end of February 2009. However, so far no progress has been made due to the political blockage of the EMP. Its precise composition, functioning and definitive mandate are still uncertain and have still to be definitively endorsed by the partners.

The Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (EMRLA) is the other new institution provided for in the Marseille Declaration. It follows a call by the Forum of Cities and Regions of the Mediterranean held in Marseille in June 2008 and an Opinion of the EU Committee of the Regions issued in October 2008 on “The Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean. Implications for Regional and Local Authorities”. It will be composed of an equal number of elected local and regional officials from the EU and MPCs. Although its creation was planned for May 2009, it has been suspended pending resumption of the EMP dynamics.

Finally,a Euro-Mediterranean University (EMUNI) was inaugurated in June 2008 in Piran, Slovenia, under the Slovenian EU Presidency, with the aim of becoming “a university of universities.” So far it has launched, jointly with partner universities in Italy, Malta, Belgium, Greece, Israel, Lebanon, the UK and Slovenia, four pilot Master Study Programmes and a series of Summer Schools, doctoral research seminars and international academic conferences. A mirror complementary institution should be established in Fez (Morocco), according to the Marseille Declaration, but has not yet started its activities.

In terms of civil society participation in the Euro-Mediterranean Process, the run-up to the July 2008 Paris Summit was ripe with meetings by different social partners. Amongst them, the Euro-Mediterranean Civil Forum,convened in Marseille in October 2008 by the Euro-Mediterranean Non-Governmental Platform with the support of MEDA-ENPI Programme, brought together more than 250 participants from Euromed civil society, issuing a declaration on “Move and Live Together in the Euromed Space”. This followed former Civil Fora in Luxembourg in 2005 (“Towards a Real Involvement of Civil Society”, 350 civil society representatives from 42 countries) and Marrakech in 2006, the first ever organized in an MPC.

Euro-Mediterranean Economic and Social Committees and similar institutions also met in Rabat on the 14-16 October 2008 in the framework of their annual summit (supported by MEDA-ENPI Programmes) to discuss civil society participation in the Union for the Mediterranean and reports on the social dimension of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, priority measures in the field of employment and women’s participation in economic and social life in the Mediterranean. Former summits took place in Egypt (2007) and in Slovenia (2006), discussing information reports on other topics. The European Economic and Social Committee has a Euromed Follow-Up Committee meeting regularly and visiting MPCs.

The business community did contribute as well to the Union for the Mediterranean project through the Medbusiness Days convened in Marseille on 3rd July 2008. It adopted a “Marseille Agenda” with six action axes focused on reinforcing competitiveness in a Euro-Mediterranean integration logic inspired in the Lisbon common strategy adopted by the EU Member States in 2000.

Implementation of the 2005 Five Year Work Programme (and Ministerial Meetings)

The Five Year Work Programme adopted in the first Euro-Mediterranean Summit of Heads of State and Government on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Barcelona Declaration in November 2005 defined a series of general and more specific objectives in the framework of the four baskets (adding a new basket on Migration, Social Integration, Justice and Security to Euro-Mediterranean cooperation).

Political and Security Partnership

Concerning the Political and Security Partnership, the Euromed partners first of all recalled the general objective to “realise a region of peace, security, prosperity and opportunity” and stressed their will to continue to work for a “just, comprehensive and lasting settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict.” The partners also mentioned some key elements of the work programme in this domain such as: “partnership-building measures, joint regional projects, sustainable development and strengthened rule of law, democracy and respect for human rights.”

Six more specific objectives are envisaged:

a) Extend political pluralism and participation by citizens, particularly women and youth, through the active promotion of a fair and competitive political environment, including fair and free elections;

b) Enable citizens to participate in decision-making at the local level including by increasing the decentralisation of governance and the management of public affairs and delivery of public services;

c) Increase the participation of women in decision-making, including in political, social, cultural and economic positions;

d) Ensure freedom of expression and association and increase access to information for all citizens;

e) Foster the role of civil society and its capability of interaction with governments and parliaments;

f) Enable the implementation of UN and Regional Charters and Conventions on civil, political, social and economic rights and promote the ratification of other instruments in this area.

With a view to contributing to these objectives the work programme identified six priorities:

(a) Promote and support political reforms on the basis of universal principles, shared values and the Neighbourhood Action Plans;

(b) Createa substantial financial Facility to support reform policies;

(c) Meet internationally agreed standards in the conduct of elections and facilitate joint cooperation;

(d) Deepen dialogue on Human Rights issues within the Association Agreements;

(e) Measures to achieve gender equality, preventing discrimination and ensuring the protection of the rights of women;

(f) Take action to implement the agreed Code of conduct on Countering Terrorism.

Moreover it was agreed to develop and deepen dialogue on ESDP and security issues.

Political dialogue, political pluralism and participation by citizens, particularly women and youth

In its communication concerning the preparation of the Lisbon Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Foreign Affairs Ministers Conference, the Commission stressed that the EMP is the “only forum within which all Mediterranean partners exchange views and engage in a constructive dialogue in spite of the persisting conflict in the Middle East and in other parts of the region. Political dialogue has become a regular item on the agenda of the Euro-Med senior officials meetings.” The Commission also welcomed the proposal made to improve working methods and notably the possibility for the Senior Officials to act as an “early response mechanism to propose the holding of ad hoc Foreign Ministers conferences in response to developments in the region.”

During the 9th Euro-Mediterranean Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, held in Lisbon in November 2007, the Ministers noted that the political and security dialogue “has focused on a regular review of the political situation in the Middle East” and that “they encourage the resumption of substantial bilateral talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority which should pave the way to the fulfilment of the vision of two national states, a safe and secure Israel and a viable, sovereign and democratic Palestinian State, living side by side in peace and security.” The issue was then mentioned in the Marseille Declaration but since January 2009, and as far as we know, no major meeting has been convened (in his speech to the Annual Conference of French Ambassadors, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the convening of an special Summit of the Union for the Mediterranean “to accompany the resumption of peace negotiations in their three tracks”, “provided that progress on the idea that settlements have to be stopped is made”, but there was no official follow-up to this announcement, and as noted above the Foreign Affers Minister’s Meeting convened for November 2009 was postponed indefinitely. Of course, traditional CFSP activities have continued to take place.

In the field of “internationally agreed standards in the conduct of elections,” the Foreign Ministers agreed to discuss the possibility of developing, on a voluntary basis and upon request of the country concerned, joint cooperation and exchange of experiences in the field of elections. Ministers mandated Euromed Senior officials to launch a discussion to take these issues forward. An initial dialogue on cooperation and best practices in the area of elections was therefore launched at Senior Official level in 2007. Foreign Ministers then expressed their wish that this should be continued at expert level and that joint cooperation could be developed on a voluntary basis upon the request of any of the partners.

After the first Ministerial Conference held on “Strengthening the Role of Women in Society” in Istanbul on 14-15 November 2006, the Euro-Mediterranean partners decided to include women’s political, civil, social, economic and cultural rights in their dialogues including in the framework of the Association Agreements, the European Neighbourhood Policy action plans and in the EU programmes and projects.

Regarding the objective of promoting “dialogue on Human Rights issues in the framework of the Association Agreements” one should note that the institutional structures of the Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements have been consolidated by the creation of new sub-Committees on human rights.

At the Tampere Conference of Foreign Ministers it was also decided to create the so-called “Governance Facility” to support willing partner states to implement reforms. In 2007, the first allocations were made to Morocco and Ukraine. The “Principles for implementing the Governance Facility under the ENPI” were adopted on 22 February 2008 (see also hereinafter points 6.4 and 7.3.3.3.).

Terrorism, security and defence

Following the adoption of theEuro-Mediterranean Code of Conduct on Countering Terrorism in Barcelona in 2005, a Euromed ad hoc meeting on the fight against terrorism was held on 15 May 2006. This was followed by various seminars notably on “the role of the media in preventing all forms of incitement to terrorism through effective and professional communication” and on “ensuring respect for human rights in the fight against terrorism in accordance with international law.” Another Euromed ad hoc meeting on counter-terrorism was held on 13 November 2007.

In Lisbon, Foreign Ministers underlined the importance of the Euro-Mediterranean ad hoc meetings on terrorism which should be more oriented to the practical implementation of the code of conduct. They agreed to concentrate efforts for 2008 on technical issues such as reinforcing the international cooperation in criminal matters. In this regard, a Euromed Seminar on the Respect for Human Rights and International Standards in the Field of Counter-Terrorism was held on 16 and 17 June 2008 in Prague. Ministers also took note of the conclusions and recommendations of the conference on “Preventing incitement to terrorism and radicalisation: what role for the media?” (Dublin, 21 May 2007).

Concerning the deepening of the dialogue on ESDP and security issues, a Euromed Senior Officials ad hoc meeting was held on ESDP in Brussels on 13 June 2007 in order to review previous and upcoming ESDP dialogue and activities (civilian and military) between the EU and Mediterranean Partners. A Euro-Mediterranean seminar organised by the EU Institute for Security Studies took then place in Rabat during the first half of 2008. Orientation courses and crisis management exercises were also organised under the auspices of the European Security and Defence College.

It was also agreed that the regional programme “EuroMed Intermediate Bridge” will extend its activities concerning the cooperation on civil protection for 2007-2008 and the ministers welcomed this decision as an “important political measure to strengthen trustful relationships by promoting cooperation and interaction between regional and local authorities, civil population and civil society.”

In Tampere, the Ministers also underlined their “support for the ongoing partnership building measures” notably the Euromed Malta seminars and the EuroMeSCo network of foreign policy institutes.

Finally one should mention that within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy the “action points” for “political cooperation” are the following:

– more active EU role in regional or multilateral conflict-resolution efforts, including participation as appropriate in civil and military peace-keeping missions;

– possibility of alignment with CFSP Declarations offered to all ENP partners;

– informal high-level ENP meeting in 2007;

– intensified parliamentary cooperation;

– strengthening of EU diplomatic presence in all ENP partners.

Sustainable Socio-Economic Development and Reform

The main objective stated under this heading in the Five Year Work Programme in Barcelona was to “work towards creating more job opportunities for the increasing numbers of young people across the region, reducing regional poverty rates and closing the prosperity gap and raising GDP growth rates.”Twelve intermediate objectives were identified in this regard (“improving the business climate”; “increased access to bank lending by private sector”; “improved management and upgrading of public institutions”; “consolidated macro-economic stability”; “strengthen social protection”; “developed national capabilities in the field of scientific and technological research and innovation”; “better socio-economic inclusion, in particular in order to face the social consequences of sectoral restructuring”; “a significant increase in the percentage of women in employment in all Euro-Mediterranean partner countries”; “increased labour force productivity”; “an increase in the region’s domestic investment and of its share of global foreign direct investment”; “an increase in the percentage of the labour force working in the private sector” and an “increase in north-south and south-south regional cooperation through financial assistance in fields of mutual interest”).

With a view to contributing to the aforementioned objectives, Euro-Mediterranean partners committed themselves to 16 different actions specified in the Five Year Work Programme. The main fields of action and the actions effectively taken since 2005 are the following:

Design and implement a Road Map for the creation of a Free Trade Area by 2010

The Association Agreement with Syria, the only not yet in force amongst MPCs, was initialled in 2004.

A Senior Officials working group has been set up to work on this Road Map.

Since 2005, there have been four Euro-Mediterranean Meetings of Ministers of Economy and Finance, the last in July 2009 and three Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Meetings on Trade were held. A Conference of Ministers for Industry was held in Rhodes in September 2006. A Work Programme for 2007-2008 was approved focusing on five priority areas: competitiveness and SMEs; market access; innovation; textiles; and investment. The European Commission also announced the opening of the EU’s Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) to third countries, including Mediterranean partners. The Work Programme is monitored by the Working Party on Euro-Mediterranean Industrial Cooperation which meets twice a year. This Working Party consists of representatives of EU Member States and Mediterranean, several European Commission Directorates-General and EU institutions, and professional organisations from both sides of the Mediterranean (UNICE, UMCE, Eurochambres, etc.).

Another Ministerial Conference on the Information Society was held in Cairo in February 2008.

– Industrial liberalization. The gradual implementation over a 12 years period of Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Areas for industrial products between the EU and MPCs has followed the scheduled provided for in Association Agreements. Tunisia completed its tariff-dismantling in January 2008, and the rest of the MPCs will do so gradually until 2017 (the next one to complete the FTA will be Morocco in 2012). The EU has liberalized its industrial imports from MPCs since the 1970s.

– Progressive liberalization of trade in agriculture. It is provided for in point 8.a.i of the Work Programme (Association Agreements provide for new negotiations every five years). Agreements to that effect were concluded with Egypt and Israel, and are ongoing with Morocco and Tunisia.

– Progressive liberalization of trade in services. According to the non-binding Framework Protocol adopted in Istanbul in 2004 for negotiations on agreements on services and right of establishment at a regional level. Negotiations are ongoing with four of the partners (Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Israel).

– Euro-Mediterranean Charter for Enterprise, adopted by Industry Ministers in their 2004 Ministerial Meeting, establishes a series of guidelines to promote the private sector an entrepreneurship through an encouraging business environment. The progress on this front was assessed in a study carried out in 2008, including profiles for all partner countries.

– South-South integration. The Agadir Agreement, a FTA between Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan, did not enter into force until January 2007 (it was scheduled at the latest by late 2005), and has foundered due to the existence of non-tariff barriers.

– The Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Protocol on Cumulation of Origin, approved by the EU Council on 11 October 2005, is applied to the four members of the Agadir Agreement and Israel.

– Approximation of standards, technical legislation and conformity assessment. Bilateral, sector specific Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (ACAA) should be negotiated and the Neighbourhood Action Plans are pushing for this approximation, but the pace is still slow and the approach differentiated, i.e., partial. The Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Ministers for Industry held in Rhodes in September 2006 pushed for this regulatory convergence and decided to open the EU’s Competition and Innovation Programme (CIP) to MPCs.

– Establishment of a dispute settlement mechanism not mentioned in the Five Year Programme, but for which negotiations have been started (and finished with Tunisia).

Overall, the goal to establish a Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area in 2010 stated in the Barcelona Declaration is far away of being achieved, although progress has been made in a consistent manner.

Creating an Euro-Mediterranean Development Bank

The Five Year Work Programme retrieved this idea (originally floated in 2002, and which already gave raise to the creation of FEMIP at the time), by aiming to “assess in December 2006 the possibility of the incorporation of an EIB majority owned subsidiary dedicated to the Mediterranean partner countries on the basis of an evaluation of FEMIP’s performance.” The European Commission published a Communication carrying out this evaluation.[51] After a positive evaluation of FEMIP contribution to investment in the region, it called for a more pro-active approach to foster the private sector and in particular SMEs, as well as a more direct link to the European Neighbourhood Policy. As a result of this assessment, the loan resources of FEMIP were increased and its mandate expanded, but the creation of a fully-fledged financial development institution in the Mediterranean was discarded for technical as well as political reasons.

Substantial increase of European investment rate in MPCs

The ANIMA and Invest in Med regional programmes have worked in this direction (see below, Section 6.2), but the global financial crisis and the fall of international oil prices (a surge of foreign direct investment from Gulf countries was registered in the region since 2005) have deflated expectations in this regard.

Promote environmental sustainability and implement the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development

The 3rd Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on the Environment was held in Cairo in November 2006. The adoption of the Horizon 2020 programme for de-polluting the Mediterranean was the main decision, later implemented through a regional programme (see Section 6.3). A thorough sector- and country-specific study by the European Investment Bank, sponsored by the FEMIP Support Fund has identified the 44 “hot spots” or priority projects for a total investment (project cost) of €2.1 billion. The project has been taken up as one of the six regional projects of the Union for the Mediterranean. The First Ministerial Conference on Sustainable Development Projects was held in Paris on June 25th 2009, focusing on energy, water and environment, transport and urban development.

Launch by 2007 at least two projects implementing EU regional policy methodology in two pilot regions

Instead of this pilot project approach, a lighter version of the regional policy methodology has been introduced for all projects and programmes of Cross Border Cooperation, involving EU Member States and MPCs local and regional authorities (see Section 6.4). The Programmes are now beginning to be implemented, so no assessment can be made.

Develop a regional transport infrastructure network

In December 2005 the First Euro-Mediterranean Transport Ministerial Conference was held in Marrakech. In the subsequent EuroMed Transport Forum held in Brussels in May 2007 a Regional Transport Action Plan (RTAP) for the Mediterranean for 2007-2013 was approved, consisting of 34 actions in a number of areas “including maritime transport, road transport, railway transport, civil aviation, multimodal transport and transport infrastructure networks, as well as with respect to sustainability issues. These actions are being implemented by partner governments in the framework of their national policies and strategies or at the multilateral level through cooperation and the exchange of information.” The Euro-Mediterranean Transport Forum as the main platform for the discussion, monitoring and regular update of the RTAP will deliver a mid-term review of the RTAP by the end of 2009 and a final review report by mid-2013. The European Commission acts as Secretariat of the Forum and will provide the support required to prepare reports and updates.

Implement sub-regional energy projects to promote the Euro-Mediterranean energy market

This should include the progressive integration of Mashreq-Maghreb electricity networks, the integration of Middle East gas networks and several important pipeline connections. A Euro-Mediterranean Energy Forum was held in Brussels in September 2006, followed by the fifth Euromed Energy Ministerial Meeting (Cyprus, December 2007), which agreed on a 2008-2013 Priority Action Plan focusing on (1) improving harmonisation and integration of energy markets and legislation in the Euromed region, (2) promoting sustainable development in the energy sector, and (3) developing initiatives of common interest in key areas, such as infrastructure extension and investment financing. A specific Ministerial Conference on enhancing energy cooperation between the EU, Turkey, Mashreq and Iraq also took place in May 2008 in Brussels.

The Southern Corridor for energy and transport, involving the EU and Mashreq and Middle East Countries (in particular Turkey and Egypt) with partners from Central Asia and Southern Caucasus launched at a Summit convened in Prague on the 8May 2009, is a major integrated project in this field.

Euro-Mediterranean Water Strategy

A sector where the Five Year Work Programme did not provide for particular action and which experienced a certain cooperation fatigue was the water sector, but it quickly became one of the priorities of the Union for the Mediterranean, and the Paris Summit mandated the Euro-Mediterranean Ministries to“define a Mediterranean water strategy, promoting conservation of water resources, diversifying water provision resources and efficient and sustainable use of water.” Despite an early setback as a consequence of the suspension of the Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Water scheduled for October 2008, the Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Water held in Jordan in December 2008 agreed a very articulated plan to define a Long Term Strategy for Water in the Mediterranean. This Strategy should take an integrated approach, include both qualitative and quantitative objectives as part of a voluntary commitment to achieve these goals and consider the most appropriate instruments to reach them before the Ministerial Conference on Water of 2010 in order to be submitted to the Union for the Mediterranean summit of this year, and beginning already in 2009 with water information, policy planning and monitoring, capacity development and sharing of expertise.

Cooperate to enhance the impact of tourism on job creation, infrastructure development and inter-cultural understanding while ensuring environmental sustainability

This was the main endeavour of the first Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Tourism held in Fez in April 2008. A new one will take place every two years, and the Ministers agreed that the Senior Officials on tourism would meet in order to prepare a Working Programme to be submitted to the next EuroMed Ministerial Conference on Tourism.

Promote effective health cooperation

To this end, the second Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Health was convened in November 2008 in Cairo, focused on developing a collective response to common health challenges in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Towards a social dimension of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership

A dimension of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership which was not explicitly taken up in the Five Year Work Programme but has developed substantially since 2005 is the employment dimension. A preparatory Euro-Mediterranean workshop on Employment was held in Brussels in December 2007, leading to the first Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Ministers of Employment held in Marrakech in November 2008. The latter approved a Framework of Actions (which in fact identifies the set of policy objectives and issues to be taken into account in the field of employment policies). A follow-up mechanism was established as well, creating a Euromed Employment and Labour Working Group composed of high-level representatives of all the partner countries, which will meet at least once a year. The group will collect information and data on national trends and policy developments, identify and exchange best practices and address issues which arise in the implementation of the Framework of Actions. The partner countries will provide the group with the information needed for drawing up during 2010 a follow-up report on progress under the Framework of Actions and a new Euro-Mediterranean Social Dialogue Forum will allow consultation with social partners throughout this process.

Strengthen impact analysis of economic reform and cooperation in the region

The main initiative undertaken in this regard was the completion of the pioneering Sustainability Impact Assessment of Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Areas carried out by a consortium led by the University of Manchester in consultation with civil society and stakeholders. The Final Report assessed the economic, social and environmental effects of Euromed Free Trade Areas for four scenarios (industrial products as provided for in Association Agreements, agriculture, services and South-South integration).

The challenge now is to implement a regional monitoring and surveillance mechanism to assess progress in each of the former domains.

Education and Socio-Cultural Exchanges

The main goal in this domain was to“improve equitable access to quality education in line with the Millennium Development Goals and the Education for All Objectives.”To achieve it, seven intermediate objectives and fourteen actions were stated. The objectives were in some cases very explicit and quantitative:

a) Halve the number of illiterate female and male adults and children by 2010;

b) Ensure equality of access to quality education at all levels for girl and boy students by 2015;

c) Ensure that by 2015 all children complete at least primary education;

d) Reduce disparities in educational achievement between Euro-Mediterranean states under internationally recognised education standards;

e) Increase completion rates at the different education levels, particularly for girls and students with special needs;

f) Enhance graduate employment through efficient, high quality higher education and greater cooperation across higher education and research.

g) Increase awareness and understanding of the different cultures and civilisations of the region, including through conservation and restoration of cultural heritage.

In the field of education, despite a commitment to “increase significantly funding devoted to education in the Mediterranean region through EU assistance and Mediterranean partners’ national plans and raise education as a priority sector within the ENPI,” the progress has been slow so far. The recent Medstat publication on “Training and Employment in the Northern and Southern Mediterranean Region” provides an official statistical overview of progress in this field.

In the field of vocational and technical education and training and relevance to the labour market of primary and secondary education, the main initiative has been the Education, Training, Employment Regional Programme (see below in Section 6.4). The recent Medstat publication on Training and Employment in the Northern and Southern Mediterranean Region provides an official statistical overview of progress in this field.

In the field of Higher Education, apart of the Tempus and Erasmus Mundus Regional Programmes (see below in Section 6.4), the aim to create a Euro-Mediterranean Area of Higher Education with “a standard of university education qualification transferable within the Euro-Mediterranean region” (the Euro-Mediterranean Bologna) is still far away. However, the first steps have been made. The First Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Higher Education and Scientific Research was held in Cairo in June 2007 (to be followed by a second one later in 2009), and issued the Cairo Declaration focusing on credit and diploma accreditation, double degrees, student mobility and exchanges and education quality enhancement. Simultaneously, after the first EuroMed University Rectors’ Conference held in Tampere (Finland) in October 2006, following former meetings in Tarragona (Spain) in June 2005, in Malta in June 2006 and in Alexandria in June 2007 (see the Alexandria Declaration on the Euro-Mediterranean Higher Education Area), the EuroMed Permanent University Forum (EPUF) was created.

In the field of culture, the first Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Ministers of Culture took place in Athens in May 2008. It launched a process that should lead to a new Euromed Strategy on Culture in two years time encompassing cooperation in both the “dialogue between cultures” and “cultural policy”. This strategy should enhance the cultural dimension of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership in an innovative and concrete way, and according to the Minister’s Conclusions it should include a wide set of actions.

As far as the other actions committed in the education and socio-cultural exchange domain (“increase access to Internet and create a Virtual Library,” including translation “between Arabic and European languages,” “launch a substantial scholarship programme for university students from Euro-Mediterranean Partnership countries,” “strengthen youth dialogue through the EuroMed Youth Platform and promote youth exchanges,” “cooperate to combat discrimination, racism and xenophobia” and “enhance the role of the media for the development of intercultural dialogue”), they are being addressed mainly through Euro-Mediterranean Regional Programmes described below in Section 6. The same applies for the “increase the involvement of civil society in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.”

Migration, Social Integration, Justice and Security

The Five Year Work Programme of the Barcelona Summit (28 November 2005) called for enhanced cooperation in the fields of Migration, Social Integration, Justice and Security through a comprehensive and integrated approach.

This chapter contains 6 objectives:

a) Promote legal migration opportunities (facilitation of the legal movement of individuals, recognising that these constitute an opportunity for economic growth. – fair treatment and integration policies for legal migrants. – facilitation of the flow of remittance transfers and address “brain drain”);

b) Reduce significantly the level of illegal migration (trafficking in human beings and loss of life through hazardous sea and border crossings);

c) Pursue the modernisation and efficiency of the administration of justice and facilitate access to justice by citizens;

d) Reinforce judicial cooperation (including on cross border issues);

e) Facilitate solutions to problems arising from mixed marriage disputes and child custody cases and encourage cooperation in accordance with the principle of the UN Convention of 1989 on the Rights of the Child and national legislation;

f) Promote the ratification and further implementation of the relevant UN conventions on combating organised crime and drugs, and improve cooperation by law enforcement agencies.

To contribute to these objectives, it has been decided to:

a) Hold a Ministerial meeting to discuss all issues pertinent to migration;

b) Develop mechanisms for practical cooperation and sharing experiences on managing migration flows humanely (deepen dialogue with countries of origin and transit and explore options for providing assistance for countries of origin and transit);

c) Promote schemes for safer, easier, less expensive channels for the efficient transfer of migrants’ remittances;

d) Develop ways to assist capacity building for those national institutions in partner countries dealing with expatriates;

e) Promote legal migration opportunities and integration of migrants;

f) Enhance cooperation to fight illegal migration. This cooperation should involve all aspects of illegal migration, such as the negotiation of different kinds of readmission agreements, the fight against human trafficking and related networks as well as other forms of illegal migration, and capacity building in border management and migration;

(g) Develop contacts, training and technical assistance for judicial and legal professionals, building on the EuroMed Justice Programme;

(h) Develop contacts, training and technical assistance for police and law enforcement officers, building on ENP Action Plans and the EuroMed Police Programme, encouraging networks in the EuroMed region and drawing on the expertise of Europol.

The European Council agreed in December 2005 on anew “Global Approach to Migration” and that priority actions should focus on Africa and the Mediterranean for 2006. In its conclusions, the European Council notes that “the migration and development agenda will be intensified by increasing coherence between the Union’s various policies, including their financial instruments, with a view to addressing the root causes of migration.”

During the 8th Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs held in Tampere in November 2006, Ministers underlined the need to “strengthen the management of migratory flows in a comprehensive and balanced manner beneficial to the peoples in the whole Mediterranean region while respecting migrants’ rights,” and to intensify cooperation on all aspects of migration between all parties concerned, including the fight against trafficking in human beings and “negotiations of different kinds of readmission agreements.” The Ministers took note of the work of the FRONTEX agency and decided to organise Euromed Ministerial meeting on migration in 2007 (see below).

The 9th Euro-Mediterranean Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, held in Lisbon on 18 and 19 November 2007, stressed “the need for continued progress by all Partners to achieve the strategic goal of optimising the social and economic benefits of migration for countries of origin, transit and destination, as well as continued cooperation in efficiently tackling illegal immigration.” Ministers mandated the senior officials to undertake a reflection on ways and means to increase the added value of regional cooperation in the fields of Justice and Security in accordance with the Five Year Work Programme.The conclusions also mentioned two other international initiatives, the Rabat Euro-African Ministerial Meeting on Migration and Development, held on 10-11 July 2006, as well as the EU-Africa Ministerial Meeting on Migration and Development, held in Tripoli on 22-23 November 2006.

Under the Portuguese Presidency, the First Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Meeting on Migration was heldinAlbufeira (Algarve) on 19 November 2007.During this meeting, political and operational conclusions were approved. Facilitating legal movement is considered as one of the key elements of the cooperation “being aware of the globally positive effect of legal migration in terms of development.” It was therefore proposed to “analyse the possibilities of facilitating and simplifying legal migration procedures for workers in demand, in order to improve legal channels for migration.” These efforts would focus on “different categories of legal workers and could also include different forms of mobility such as circular and temporary migration, taking into account the needs of the Euro-Mediterranean countries labour markets as well as in terms of development.”A series of measures have been adopted, such as a working group on the migration aspects of the labour market, the introduction of training courses for migrant workers, pre-departure professional training and linguistic courses for potential migrants; a seminar on transfer of funds and micro-credit opportunities; training courses for the countries of transit on methods for the detection and identification of false or falsified and counterfeit identity and travel documents; an enhancing capacity building related to departure flows and on strengthening the relationship between fighting illegal migration and the respect for the relevant international instruments. The Ministers made a commitment to maintaining regular meetings, through the establishment of task forces at the level of senior experts and officialsto implement all the actions and supervise their progress.

Cooperation in the field of justice, security and migration is also at the top of the agenda of the ENP. For instance, the European Commission, in its 2006 communication “On strengthening the European Neighbourhood Policy”, identified the following “action points” concerning “Mobility and migration”:

– visa facilitation, removing obstacles to legitimate travel, e.g. for business, educational, tourism, official purposes;

– ensure well-managed mobility and migration, addressing readmission, cooperation in fighting illegal immigration, and effective and efficient border management.

In its 2007 communication “A Strong European Neighbourhood Policy” the European Commission noted that “the promotion of mobility will go hand in hand with the commitment of our partners to increase security and justice and fight illegal migration, with efforts to strengthen our neighbours’ capacity to deal with migratory flows to their countries, and with the security of documents.” Therefore, it urged the EU Council and the European Parliament to adopt “its 2006 ‘package’ on legislative proposals aiming at revising the European Visa policy, ensuring a high level of security within the common area and simplifying the procedures for visa applicants.”

It must be stressed that this issue is one of the priority areas of the ENP Regional Indicative Programme 2007-2013 which identifies a number of concrete projects and programmes (see Section 6).

The Work Programme for 2009 (Marseille Conference)

On November 3-4, during the meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Ministers of Foreign Affairs held in Marseille, several decisions were taken regarding the institutional structure of the UfM, the work programme for 2009, the fields of cooperation to be pursued and the state of progress in the implementation of projects decided in Paris in 2008.

The Ministers agreed that “important steps need to be taken in 2009 to implement the Barcelona Five Year Work Programme and the declaration of the Paris Summit in order to advance the regional integration process.” A work programme for 2009 was therefore adopted and an indicative list of ministerial meetings established.It should be stressed that four Ministerial Meetings were supposed to be held for the first time on “Sustainable Development Projects”, “Food Security, Agriculture and Rural Development”, “Justice, Liberty and Security” and “Human Development”.

The fields of cooperation to be pursued in 2009 are the following:

1. Political and security dialogue

Regular review of the political situation in the Middle East; – Implementation of the Code of Conduct on countering terrorism; – Deepening of the dialogue on ESDP and crisis management; – strengthening democracy and political pluralism through expansion of participation in political life; – Deepening of regional dialogue on joint cooperation, best practices and exchange of experience in the area of elections; – Laying the foundations for a Long-Term Programme, the EuroMed Programme for the Prevention, Preparedness and Response to Natural and Man-made Disasters 2008-2011.

B. Maritime safety

A forum of Mediterranean Coast Guard Services and, as appropriate, Maritime Services in 2009; – Study the possibility of developing new initiatives.

C. Economic and financial partnership

Energy

Initiatives being implemented such as the Euro-Mashreq gas cooperation, integration of electricity markets in the Maghreb, the trilateral energy cooperation between the EC, Israel and the Palestinian Authority [incl. the Solar Energy for Peace Initiative] and cooperation among Euro-Mediterranean energy regulators (Medreg). Alleviating energy poverty in the framework of the Millennium Development Goals.

Transport

Follow up of the Regional Transport Action Plan (RTAP) for the Mediterranean.

Agriculture

A Ministerial Meeting should aim at identifying and promoting projects related to sustainable rural development (quality products and coordination of agricultural research). The meeting should support reinforcement of activities in the areas of sanitary and phytosanitary norms.

Urban development

Involvement of regional authorities to define appropriate planning.

Water

Ministers agree to define the Strategy for Water in the Mediterranean.

Environment

Prepare the Cairo Euro-Mediterranean Environment Ministerial Meeting, study the process of developing a harmonised maritime policy and a maritime strategy for the Mediterranean, intensify cooperation on climate change: establishment of a Euromed Climate Change Network.

Information society

Intensify cooperation on regulatory issues for electronic communications, the connectivity of service platforms and networks and ICT research. A specific Action Plan will be prepared for approval at the next meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Forum of Senior Officials before end 2009.

Tourism

Implement cooperation actions in the areas of vocational education and training, cultural heritage, institutional capacity building, investment promotion – Reinforcing the identification of investment opportunities – Invitation that FEMIP foster the development of tourism – Working Programme to be submitted to the Ministerial Meeting on Tourism in 2010.

Establishment of a Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area

Ministersinstructed the Senior Officials to present a Euro-Mediterranean Trade Roadmap up to 2010 and beyond at the 2009 Trade Ministerial – Negotiations with Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Israel on the liberalisation of trade in services and the right of establishment, launched in 2008, will continue in 2009. – Negotiations will continue on the establishment of a more efficient dispute settlement mechanism – Negotiations on liberalisation of agricultural and fisheries products were concluded with Egypt and Israel, and progress was made with Morocco while negotiations were launched with Tunisia. – Ministers stressed the importance of strengthening capacity building and institutional development in trade and trade-related matters and assistance to help partners to converge towards the trade-related acquis.

Economic dialogue

Concentrating discussions at the Conference in 2009 on the international financial crisis. – Discussing the issue of the food prices crisis in a relevant Ministerial meeting. – The Euromed Network of Public Finance Experts launched in 2008 will focus on the analysis of fiscal consolidation, public expenditures – Improving the legal framework to facilitate transfer and mobilisation of migrant remittances.

Industrial cooperation

Implementing the Euromed Charter for Enterprise. – Facilitation of industrial exchanges, innovation, regional dialogue on the future of the textile and clothing sector and investment promotion. – Sustainable industrial development will be added to the traditional themes. – Proposal to improve arbitration procedures: setting up of a Mediterranean Court of Arbitration.

Work on statistics cooperation

Ministers took note of the important role of reliable statistics as an important factor in decision-making.

D. Social, human and cultural cooperation

Developing a genuine social dimension

Ministers should approve a framework of action setting out key objectives in the fields of employment policy, employability and decent employment opportunities. This framework will address strengthening the participation of women in the labour market, non-discrimination, integration of young people within the labour market. – Employment and Labour Ministers should approve an effective follow-up mechanism. – The cooperation of social partners across the Euromed region should be further developed. – Ministers mandated Senior Officials to identify ways and means to implement the objective of facilitating legal movement of individuals.

Health

Euromed Ministerial Meeting on Health to take place in Egypt on 17 November 2008.

Human development

Ministersmandated the Senior Officials to prepare for the first Ministerial Meeting on Human Development due to be held in Morocco in 2009 or 2010.

Towards a Euro-Mediterranean Higher Education and Research Area

Inauguration of the Euromed University in Slovenia. – Implementation and follow up of the Cairo Declaration by reinforcing the role of the Monitoring Committee for Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation in RTD (MOCO) and the creation of an expert group on Higher Education with a precise mandate to realize the objectives and actions of the Declaration – attention to be given to academic mobility, quality assurance mechanisms and recognition of degrees and study periods to develop joint degrees.

Promoting dialogue between cultures, cultural diversity

The third meeting of Euro-Mediterranean Culture Ministers (Athens, 29-30 May 2008), launched a process that should lead to a new Euromed Strategy on Culture in two years time. This Strategy will be built on “dialogue between cultures” and “cultural policy”. The Anna Lindh Foundation will consolidate its capacity to promote intercultural dialogue, diversity and mutual understanding. The launching conference for the Euromed Heritage IV programme will be held at the beginning of 2009 in Marrakech.

Justice and Law

The two components of the Programme on Justice and Home Affairs (2008-2011), namely cooperation in the field of Justice (Euro-Med Justice II) and the Police (Euro-Med Police II), have started their activities.

Strengthening the role of women in society

Another thematic working group will be organised to complement all the pillars agreed in the Istanbul Ministerial Meeting on “Women’s Social Rights and Sustainable Development” and “Women’s Rights in the Cultural Sphere and the Role of Communication and the Mass Media”. A second Ministerial Conference on this issue is to be held in Marrakech, Morocco on November 11-12, where an implementation report produced by the European Commission on the basis of a questionnaire sent to all EuroMed partners was considered.

EuroMed Youth

The Euro Med Youth IV Programme will continue to run in conjunction with the Youth in Action Programme). Total youth exchanges beneficiaries from MPCs were 830 in 2007 and 1,034 in 2008, plus 46 volunteers in 2007 and 43 in 2008.

Cooperation with civil society and local actors

A new regional programme has been launched in 2008 aiming at strengthening the role of civil society. – Efforts to organise Civil Fora should be encouraged by all partners. – Ministers acknowledged the important role and the contribution of the Economic and Social Councils and similar institutions.

Enhancing the visibility of the Partnership

Second Regional Information and Communication Programme with four components: media activities, journalist training and networking, campaign support and opinion polling/surveys. – The Euromed and Media consultations will continue through the activities of its task force and networks (media, journalism schools and gender). Seminars and workshops will cover media-related issues.

Migration

Migration should be an integral part of the regional partnership. Legal migration, migration and development and the fight against illegal migration to be addressed through a comprehensive, balanced and integrated approach. – Launching of EuroMed Migration II (2008-2011).

Union for the Mediterranean projects

As regards the implementation of the Union for the Mediterranean projects, the political blockage and the lack of concrete financial commitments in the Paris Summit and the Marseille Ministerial Meeting have delayed so far the launching of the projects, but different preparatory meetings have already been held for each project. The projects are all in a pre-feasibility study stage (studying barriers to implementation and regulatory needs) to be followed by a pilot project identification. Only the Civil Protection project (continuing the 2004-2008 Civil Protection regional MEDA programme, focused on technical assistance and capacity building) and the De-pollution project (taking up the Horizon 2020 Initiative agreed by the Euro-Mediterranean Environment Ministers in 2006 in their Ministerial Meeting in Cairo) have come closer to an operational stage.

On the financial front, the situation seems unclear. The Paris Declaration stated in point 31 that “the […] Union for the Mediterranean will mobilise additional funding for the region, mainly through regional and sub-regional projects. Its capacity to attract more financial resources for regional projects, with a high degree of donor coordination, will constitute its added value mainly through the following sources, inter alia: private sector participation; contributions from the EU budget and all partners; contributions from other countries, international financial institutions and regional entities; the Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership Facility (FEMIP); the ENPI Euro-Med envelope, the Neighbourhood Investment Facility and the cross-border cooperation instrument within the ENPI, as well as the other instruments applicable to the countries covered by the initiative, for which the usual selection and procedural rules will continue to apply.” In the Marseille Declaration, it was specified (point 14) that “The funding and implementation of projects will be pursued on a case-by-case basis by the various interested partners according to their own procedures and by ad hoc sub-groups”. However, the statement made by the Commission in its May 2008 Communication on the UfM (points 37 and 38) still stands: “Its added value [of the UfM] will very much depend on its capacity to attract more financial resources for regional projects. While there can be no prior earmarking of EU funds, certain projects which fit with the objectives of EU regional programmes can be considered for funding. Insofar as funding from the EU budget is concerned, the normal selection and procedural rules will continue to apply.” For the period up to 2013, the Financial Perspectives and hence the allocation of EU funds cannot be substantially modified.

To this effect, the creation of an INFRAMED Private Investment Fund was announced in a UfM meeting in Alexandria on the 30^t April 2009 as a pioneering scheme for Public-Private Partnerships. It will focus on funding infrastructures across the region and an initial contribution of €400 million was committed by three French, Italian and Moroccan savings banks and a Middle East investment fund. In the same occasion, the World Bank announced a commitment of €750 million for projects in the Mediterranean solar energy sector.

Euro-Mediterranean and ENP Multilateral Programmes

In the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the regional cooperation complements the bilateral actions taking place under the Association Agreements. Multilateral cooperation is strategic in order to promote North-South and South-South dialogues, cooperation and integration.

The regional programmes and projects were funded between 1995 and 2007 through the MEDA programme. Since then, support has been provided under the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) for the period 2007-2013. For regional cooperation in the Mediterranean €343 million have been earmarked for the period 2007-2010.

Political, Justice, Security and Migration Cooperation

 Six main projects are funded under the first Political and Securitypillar. The projects are grouped under the headings “justice, freedom and security”, “migration” and “training for diplomats”:

i) EuroMed Justice I and II;

ii) EuroMed Police II;

iii) EuroMeSCo;

iv) Middle East Peace Process;

v) EuroMed Migration I and II;

vi) Malta Seminars.

Euromed Justice I and II (2005-2007 € 2 million, and 2008-2011, €5 million) aim at supporting an open and modern justice system through strengthening the institutional and administrative capacity of MPCs and setting up an inter-professional community. Under EuroMed Justice I a EuroMed judicial network and a website were created. More than 20 regional seminars on five programme topics were organised and four regional conferences have been held. EuroMed Justice II has an overall objective of creating an inter-professional community of magistrates, lawyers and court registrars, strengthening the rule of law and the effective pursuit of Human Rights. The three main components are: Access to justice and legal aid; Resolution of cross-border family conflicts; and Criminal and prison law. The project activities consist of carrying out Working Groups.

The EuroMed Police II programme(July 2007- June 2010, €5 million) aims at strengthening police cooperation between the EU and the Mediterranean Partner Countries, in the fight against all major types of organised crime. It organises study visits to specialised police services in EU countries, holds training sessions for senior police officers from Mediterranean countries, conducts technical training sessions for heads of Special Intervention Units and runs information sessions for the general directors of Police, Customs and Security Services. It is also creating an intranet website to allow better exchange of information. However, the CEPOL Board was advised that Euromed project activities were suspended on 7 January 2009.

EuroMeSCo, Euro-Mediterranean Study Commission,(2005-2009, €4.9 million) is a network of foreign policy institutes carrying out studies on the EMP and ENP issues and is considered as an EMP confidence-building measure. EuroMeSCo facilitates discussion between EU and Mediterranean foreign policy institutes (network of 48 foreign policy institutes and 24 observers) on matters of mutual concern through workshops, seminars, and conferences. EuroMeSCo produces publications (42 EuroMeSCo Papers and 6 reports have been published since 2005). Annual conferences are held regularly and 8 workshops on topics such as human rights, democracy and security and three crisis management seminars have been organised during this period.

The support for the Middle East Peace Process (2005-2007, €10 million and for 2007 to 2010, €10 million)aims to support to the efforts to promote peace and cooperation between Israelis and Arabs, mainly through initiatives impacting on people’s lives. A major activity is the “EU Partnership for Peace Programme”, seeking to strengthen and increase direct civil society relationships and cooperation.

The EuroMed Migration I (2004-2007, €2 million) aimed to promote analysis and cooperation on questions linked to migration, and the social integration of immigrants. The project developed four research programmes: Migration, transfers and development; Transit migration; Border management; Diaspora and countries of origin. A database with information on migratory flows in the Mediterranean region has been created and studies were conducted on different areas, such as the Annual Report on Mediterranean migration. 16 research reports and 37 analytical and synthetic notes were published. The new EuroMed Migration II (2008-2011, €5 million), aims to strengthen the Euromed cooperation in the management of migration, so as to build up the MPCs’ capacity to provide an effective, targeted and comprehensive solution for the various forms of migration. Four working groups, composed of high level officials of the Euromed ministerial authorities involved in the management of migration were set up: legislative convergence and the need for reform of migration law and its institutional framework (two sessions have already been organized); labour migration (two sessions organised);institutional responses and national strategies to combat illegal immigration (three sessions organized); remittances by migrants to their countries of origin (two sessions).

Malta Seminars for Diplomats (2004-2008, €0.94 million) aims at providing participants with regular and updated information on the EU Institutions and the key aspects of the EMP. 24 seminars for diplomats from EU and Mediterranean countries have been held five of them between May 2006 and April 2008.

The Euro-Med Bridge Programme in the field of Civil Protection (2004-2008, €1.9 million) is intended to further promote and support the establishment of a Euromed system of civil protection. The Bridge Programme covers activities such as training and simulation exercises, exchanges of experts (11 expert exchange sessions and 6 targeted technical assistance missions were held) and networking of Civil Protection schools). The Euromed regional Programme for Prevention, Preparedness and Response to Natural and Man-made Disasters (PPRD South; 2009-2011, €5 million) has taken the relay of Bridge since March 2009, and is managed by a consortium led by the Italian Civil Protection Authority, together with the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) and the Civil Protection Authorities of France, Egypt and Algeria.

Sustainable Socio-Economic Development and Reform

There are 25 different regional projects being implemented under the Economic and Financial Partnership in the fields of Economy, Energy, Environment, Transport and Information Society, all of them aiming at contributing to the establishment of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area for 2010.

This includes projects such as:

Agadir Agreement (2004-2008, €4 million) to support the Free Trade Area between Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan.

ANIMA (2002-2007, €3.95 million), a network of investment promotion agencies and a tool for promoting investment in the MPCs. It has organised investment promotion conferences and a series of sectoral studies, as well as a regional database on foreign direct investment. This project has been continued through the Invest in Med (2008-2011, €9 million).

Euro-Med Quality (2004-2008, €7.26 million) supporting efforts to develop and market quality products.

EuroMed Market (2002-2009, €9 million), managed by the European Institute of Public Administration, focused on training actions on the EU Single Market (customs, competition rules, Public Procurement, Audit and Accounting, Intellectual Property Rights and Financial Services) with a view to the implementation of a Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area by 2010.

FEMISE, a Euro-Mediterranean Forum of Institutes of Economic Research (2005-2009, €4.9 million), is conceived as a confidence-building measure. It brings together 77 economic research institutes from EU and MPCs which meet yearly in its Annual Conference. It has conducted 4 biannual or three-year research programmes (in 2006-2007 with 26 research projects and in 2007-2008 with 11) and publishes a yearly reference FEMISE Report on the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (a total of 8 reports so far), as well as some thematic reports. In 2004-2005 published a series of ten Country Profiles on MPCs with a thorough analysis of economic issues in each of them.

Medibtikar. Innovation and Technology (2006-2009, €7.25 million) to promote innovation in business, in particular in Small- and Medium- Sized Enterprises.

MedStat II (2006-2009, €30 million),to strengthen capacities of statistical authorities in MPCs and cooperation and exchanges between them. It publishes a yearly collection of Euro-Mediterranean Statistics.

In the energy sector, there are a series of projects in the Mashreq gas sector (Euro-Arab Mashreq Gas Market, 2005-2008, €6 million), in the Maghreb electricity sector (electricity Market Integration, 2007-2010, €4.9 million), MED-EMIP (energy cooperation, 2007-2010, €4.1 million) to promote energy policy dialogue and MED-ENEC on energy efficiency in construction (2005-2008, €4 million).

In the environment sector, the EMWIS/SEMIDE, Euro-Mediterranean Information System on the Know-how in the Water Sector (2004-2008, €3.3 million) aims to become a tool for the exchange of cooperation and the establishment of cooperation programmes in the water sector, MEDA Water (2003-2008, €40 million)has focused on nine pilot projects with priority status, besides the financing of water-related activities of public authorities and NGOs. These projects have not yet emerged from the study phase. SMAP III (Sustainable Environmental Development, 2005-2008, €15 million) provides technical and financial assistance in this area, as well as an Avian Influenza and Global Influenza Pandemic Preparedness (2006-2009, €10 million).

In the information society sector there are two additional projects: EUMEDIS (Information and Communication Technologies, 1999-2007, €65 million),with 20 regional pilot projects, and NATP II (Telecommunications Policy, 2005-2008, €4 million) to assist regulatory authorities in this sector.

Finally, in the transport sector five regional projects aim to promote regional integration: EuroMed Transport Programme (2003-2008, €9.7 million)to improve transport connections, EuroMed Aviation Project (2007-2010, €5 million), Motorways of the Sea (Transport Connections, 2006-2008, €4.8 million), a project taken up in the framework of the Union for the Mediterranean, SAFEMED (Maritime Safety and Pollution Prevention, 2006-2008, €4.5 million), another project pinpointed as a priority in the Marseille Declaration, and the Euro-Med Satellite Navigation (GNSS) Project (2006-2008, €4.5 million).

In general terms, most of these regional projects have focused on training, technical assistance, commissioning of studies, information and awareness raising, regional meetings and networking activities. Only a few of them have reached the pilot projects stage.

Education and Socio-Cultural Exchanges

Social and cultural exchanges have been designed as a key tool to promote mutual understanding between the peoples of the region. 14 projects were financed in 2005-2009 under this heading:

EuroMed Audiovisual (2005-2008, €15 million) supports the development, promotion, distribution and circulation of Mediterranean and European audiovisual products, including film festivals, film production and distribution and the creation of a database.

Regional Information and Communication (2004-2007 and 2008-2011, €10 and € 12 million), to promote visibility and knowledge of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, mainly through working with the media and focusing on civil society and youth.

EuroMed Heritage II-III (2002-2008, €40 million),to promote cultural dialogue about the Mediterranean heritage.

The Anna Lindh Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures (see above).

Training of Public Administrations (2004-2008, €6 million),targeted at civil servants.

Education and Training for Employment (2004-2007, €5 million), a project managed by the European Training Foundation to support MPCs in the design and implementation of technical and vocational education and training policies with the ultimate goal of promoting employment (the only Euro-Mediterranean project in the area of employment so far).

TEMPUS (2003-2007, €94.5 million,see below), Erasmus Mundus (2007-2008, €13 million, see below).

Role of Women in Economic Life (2006-2008, €5 million), the only gender project undertaken in the framework of the EMP, already being continued by the project on Enhancing Equality between Men and Women (2008-2011, €4.5 million).

EuroMed Youth III (2005-2008, €5 million),mainly promoting youth exchanges.

MED-PACT (2006-2009, €5 million), encouraging dialogue and cooperation between cities and local authorities, continued through the CIUDAD Programme (Cooperation in Urban Development and Dialogue, 2009-2011, €14 million).

ENP Multilateral Programmes

Cross-Border Cooperation

Fifteen Programmes have been established under the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument Cross-Border Cooperation (ENPI CBC) for the period 2007-2013 with a total budget of € 1.181 billion (half from ENPI itself – up to 5% of ENPI total budget – and half from the European Regional Development Fund). These programmes will be managed with a slightly lighter structural funds methodology, and they will finance cooperation projects by local and regional authorities, but also other local actors and partners such as universities, trade unions, business organizations, NGOs, or chambers of commerce.

The Mediterranean Partners are involved in three of them:

1. The Spain-Morocco Programme, with an Andalusia-North of Morocco window and a Canary Islands-South of Morocco window and a total indicative budget allocation of €156.7 million. The Programme has not yet been agreed between Spain and Morocco (the deadline is 2010).

1. The Italy-Tunisia Programme was adopted in December 2008 with a budget of €25.2 million. (The aim of the ENPI-CBC IT-TN Programme is to promote the economic, institutional, and cultural integration between the Tunisian and Sicilian regions through a joint sustainable development process in the context of the cross-border cooperation).

1. The Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme was adopted in August 2008 with a budget of €173.6 million for 2007-2013 and the managing authority has been established in Sardinia (Italy). (Priorities of the programme: Promotion of socio-economic development and enhancement of territories; Promotion of environmental sustainability at the basin level; Promotion of better conditions and modalities for ensuring the mobility of persons, goods and capitals; Promotion of cultural dialogue and local governance).

Governance Facility

The Governance Facility provides additional EC support, on top of the EC funding amounts already allocated for the partner countries. This support will acknowledge and support the work of those partners who have made most progress in implementing the agreed reform agenda set out in their Action Plan. The assessment included in the annual ENP Country Progress Report provides the basis for the annual allocation decisions. The European Commission noted, in its communication on “Implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy in 2008”, “The overall lack of progress on governance issues observed in 2008 underlines the need for the EU and its partners to redouble their efforts, both with intensified political dialogue and with tailored assistance, including the Governance Facility which remains an important political incentive. The Commission will decide on the next allocations under this facility in the light of the analysis in this Communication and the annexed country reports.”

Technical Assistance for Reform

Beginning in 2004, certain schemes of technical assistance so far reserved for pre-accession countries (and managed by the Directorate-General Enlargement of the European Commission) have been extended to the MPCs benefiting from the ENPI (under the management of EuropeAid). These are meant to support the process of legislative approximation and regulatory convergence to the EU and institution-building in partner countries, and are financed through the new ENPI Interregional Programme (but for the Twinning Programme, financed at national level by EC Delegations).

TAIEX (Technical Assistance and Information Exchange)channels short-term technical assistance to public administrations in pre-accession and partner countries in the field of approximation, application and enforcement of EU legislation in all fields of the Community acquis. It applies on the basis of requests from beneficiary countries.

In June 2008, the Support for Improvement in Governance and Management (SIGMA), equally meant originally for candidate countries, was extended to ENP countries under the ENPI. SIGMA is a joint initiative of the EU and the OECD and helps its partner to assess reform progress and identify priorities for reform and assisting in the process of institution-building and setting up of legal frameworks. So far no operational project has been undertaken in the MPCs. Total joint budget assignments for 2007-2010 has been €40 million for all the ENPI beneficiaries.

The Institutional Twinning instrument is originally designed to support candidate countries to acquire the necessary skills to adopt, implement and enforce EU legislation by receiving technical assistance from a partner public administration in a EU Member State. Since 2004, it has been extended to the cooperation fields of the ENP. Between 2005 and 2008, a total of 60 twinning projects were launched with MPCs (18 in Tunisia, 13 in Morocco and 13 in Egypt, 10 in Jordan) and 58 more were under preparation.

Investment Promotion

The Neighbourhood Investment Facility was launched as a Trust Fund at the end of 2007 to provide grant funding to projects of common interest in the energy, transport and environment domain, thus supporting operations of the EIB, the EBRD and other European development finance institutions. It has a budget of €700 million for 2007-2013, with the aim to get Member States contributions to match this amount through a trust fund to increase leverage (so far the NIF has got €37 million of commitments from Member States). €250 million were allocated for the 2007-2010 period, and the six projects supported in 2008, the first year of operations, in MPCs (2 in Egypt on water and wastewater service programme and a wind farm, 2 in Morocco on rural roads and tramway construction in Rabat and Salé and 2 in Tunisia on wastewater and a feasibility study for a solar power plan), had a total cost of €1.65 billion, with the NIF grants totalling €34.3 million. The Secretariat of the NIF is located at the European Commission.

Promoting Higher Education and Student Mobility

This is one of the themes of the Interregional Programme. Its two instruments are the Tempus and Erasmus Mundus Programmes.The TEMPUS Programme (2003-2007 for Tempus III, €94.5 million) intends to provide opportunities for academic and administrative staff from universities, cooperate with higher education institutions in the EU, promoting modernisation and reform of higher education institution and the mobility of teachers and administrators. A new phase of the programme, Tempus IV, was launched in 2008 (with €12.7 allocated for that year). MPCs benefit from a total of 32 Tempus projects, most of them multi-country projects. The Erasmus Mundus Programme (2007-2008, €13 million) promotes mobility and exchanges of university students, teachers and researchers (42 students and 35 scholars in 2008 and 54 and 14 in 2007 for all ENP countries received scholarships and 473 from MPCs benefited from mobility schemes in 2008/2009). A specific demand-driven Scholarship Programme has also been created in this framework.

New Instruments, New Resources, New Achievements?

Ministerial Conferences, Action Plans and Euro-Mediterranean Strategies

The standard methodology for Euro-Mediterranean cooperation hinges around the sectoral Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Meetings (15 were planned for 2009 according to the Marseille Declaration). However, the political blockage of the EMP since December 2008 has entailed the cancellation or suspension of those scheduled for this period. Ministerial Meetings usually agree a document of conclusions summarizing the content of the discussions, making some general political statements and objectives of actions to be undertaken in the future in the respective field. As such, they are mainly a tool for political and policy dialogue.

But what used to be a general political declaration stating principles and addressing a variety of sectoral issues has tended to become, in some strategic domains, an articulated set of actions to achieve the objectives stated in Foreign Ministers’ or Summit declarations, be it in the form of work programmes, actions plans or, in the most advanced cases, fully-fledged Euro-Mediterranean Strategies. This brings the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership closer to operational region-building, cooperation and reform-promoting scheme, and seems to be becoming an evolutionary model for Euro-Mediterranean cooperation.

In the last two years several sectoral action plans and strategies have emerged in the following fields:

Transport

In the field of transport, a Regional Transport Action Plan (RTAP) for the Mediterranean was adopted in the Euromed Transport Forum held in Brussels in May 2007. To ensure follow-up, the Euro-Mediterranean Transport Forum was entrusted as the main platform for the discussion, monitoring and regular update of the RTAP to deliver a mid-term review of the RTAP by the end of 2009 and a final review report by mid-2013.

Energy

A 2008-2013 Priority Action Plan agreed in the EuroMed Energy Ministerial Meeting (Cyprus, December 2007).

Tourism

The Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Tourism (Fez, 2-3 April 2008) agreed to prepare a Working Programme to be submitted to the next EuroMed Ministerial Conference on Tourism.

Culture

The Euro-Mediterranean Culture Ministers (Athens, 29-30 May 2008) launched a political process that should lead to a new Euro-Mediterranean Strategy on Culture in two years time. Apart from mentioning the different elements that this strategy should include, the Ministers agreed to establish a follow-up mechanism to draw up a Euro-Mediterranean Cultural Strategy and concrete proposals, to be endorsed by the next meeting of the Ministers of Culture, to be held in the first half of 2010. This mechanism will include the establishment of a Euromed Group of Experts on Culture which will meet at least twice before the next Euro-Mediterranean Conference of the Ministers of Culture.

A Mediterranean Maritime Strategy

In the Marseille Declaration, the same approach was adopted for developing a Mediterranean maritime strategy: “Studying the process of developing a harmonised maritime policy and promoting a

foreseeable maritime strategy for the Mediterranean shall take particular consideration within the Euromed Partnership in 2009 and beyond. A sectoral Euromed working group composed of national experts is clearly needed to formulate the guidelines, visions, priorities, objectives, means of implementation and funding mechanisms of such a policy, taking into account the variances between the Euromed countries.”

Employment and Labour

In November 2008 the Euro-Mediterranean Ministers of Employment and Labour committed themselves to a Framework of Actions which would contribute to developing a genuine social dimension within the Euromed agenda (whose objectives are identified in an Annex). A follow-up mechanism was established as well: “To follow-up the efforts of the Euro-Mediterranean partners in the implementation of the Framework of Actions, the Ministers set up a Euro-Med Employment and Labour Working Group, chaired by the co-presidency, supported by the European Commission and composed of high-level representatives of all the partner countries, which will meet at least once a year. The group will collect information and data on national trends and policy developments, identify and exchange best practices as well as address issues which arise in the implementation of the Framework of Actions. The partner countries will provide the group with the information needed for drawing up during 2010 a follow-up report on progress under the Framework of Actions.”This could in time lead to a Euro-Mediterranean Employment Strategy.

Water

Finally, in the Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Water held in Jordan in December 2008 there was an agreement to define a Long-Term Strategy for Water in the Mediterranean according to the mandate received from the Paris Summit. This Strategy should take an integrated approach, include both qualitative and quantitative objectives as part of a voluntary commitment to achieve these goals and consider the most appropriate instruments to reach them. The Ministers approved the guidelines for this strategy and decided to establish an efficient and shared preparation and follow-up mechanism for the Strategy and should include an Action Plan specifying the modalities through which these objectives will be achieved for the related years. The Ministers commissioned a Euro-Med Water Expert Group made up of government representatives and the European Commission (and working under the UfM rules) to prepare it before the Ministerial Conference on Water of 2010 in order to be submitted to the Union for the Mediterranean summit of that year; this Group met for the first time in Athens on 7-8 September 2009.

To complete this gradual operationalisation of the Euromed cooperation in line with EU policy coordination models, a modulation of instruments, a generalisation of feasibility and impact studies, a sufficient allocation of financial and institutional resources and appropriate monitoring mechanism have yet to be established.

Articulation Between EMP, ENP and UfM

The articulation between EMP, the ENP and the UfM has become extremely complex and is still not precisely defined as discussions are still going on at various levels on the practical impact of the new institutional architecture of the Union for the Mediterranean.

What should be stressed first of all is that the funding for bilateral and multilateral programmes is now governed by the rules and procedures of the ENPI (see the financial envelopes at 7.3). The European Neighbourhood Policy also changed some important elements at the level of financing management in introducing three new instruments derived from the pre-accession strategy methodology: the Country Reports, the Action Plans and the Progress Reports. These “uni-bilateral” instruments have introduced a new way of approaching the Euromed cooperation. Based on a benchmarking methodology, this system is more precise and binding than was the case under the MEDA regulations.

The Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements are still for all MPCs – with the exception of Syria – the major contractual framework for relations with their European partners but new neighbourhood agreements are already envisaged for the most advanced MPCs. In the meantime, the ENP has contributed to the creation of new sub-committees (such as the ones on human rights) within the institutional framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements.

Financial Envelopes

Since 1st January 2007 and within the 2007-2013 Financial Perspectives, it is Regulation (EC) No 1638/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 2006 laying down general provisions establishing a European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) that is the legal base for financing Euromed Programmes and projects. For MPCs, the ENPI has replaced the former MEDA Programme.

Global financial envelope of the ENPI

According to Article 29 of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument Regulation the global financial envelope available to the ENP Partner countries over the period 2007 to 2013 is €11,181 million, broken down as follows:

(a) a minimum of 95% of the financial envelope will be allocated to the country and multi-country programmes;

(b) up to 5 % of the financial envelope will be allocated to the cross-border cooperation programmes.

The Strategy Papers and Indicative programmes covering country, regional and cross-border programmes were those adopted for the first four years (2007-2010).

ENPI country programmes

The main focus of the ENPI is on country programmes. According to the European Commission they“support partners’ implementation of their own political, governance, economic and social reform programmes. Of the €5.6 billion available for 2007-2010, 73% will be geared to support partners’ implementation of their European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). For this reason, countries which have concluded an Action Plan and made progress in its implementation will receive substantial funding.”

In the last few years, the European Commission has made an increasing use of direct budget support (financial transfers earmarked for specific sectors usually linked to progress in reform in that sectors) instead of project related finance. The overall annual budget support for the countries of the ENP/ENPI increased from € 397 to € 635 million between 2002 and 2007 reaching 100% of total financial cooperation for Morocco in 2007 and 88% for Egypt the same year.

ENPI multilateral track

The Multi-Country Programmes

The financial envelopes for Multi-Country Programmes (2007-2010) include one Interregional Programme and two regional programmes. The regional programme for the South is actually the former regional programme launched under the Euro-Mediterranean partnership (MEDA Regional Programme).

ENPI Indicative Multi-Annual Allocations for the period 2007-2010 Million €

Multi-Country Programmes

i) Inter-Regional Programme 260.8

ii) Regional Programme – South 343.3

iii) Regional Programme – East 223.5

Total for Multi-Country Programmes 827.6

i) The Interregional Programme

The Interregional Programme is a new programme created within the ENPI. The four priorities identified are:

Priority Area 1: Promoting reform through European advice and expertise;

Priority Area 2: Promoting higher education and student mobility;

Priority Area 3: Promoting cooperation between local actors in the EU and in the partner countries;

Priority Area 4: Promoting the implementation of the ENP and of the Strategic Partnership with Russia;

Priority Area 5: Promoting Investment projects in ENP Partner Countries.

ii) The Regional Programme South (Euromed Partnership)

REGIONAL SUPPORT ALLOCATION – FINANCIAL BREAKDOWN

Year in which commitments will be made under the programme

The Cross-Border Cooperation Programmes

The funding for the ENPI-CBC programmes comes from two sources: from the financial allocations for the ENPI itself, to an extent determined in Article 29 of the ENPI regulation, and from the European Regional Development Fund. On this basis, the total funding available for ENPI-CBC programmes for the period 2007-10 amounts to €583.28 million, of which € 274.92 million comes from ENPI, and €308.36 million from ERDF. For the period 2011-13, it is foreseen that a further € 535.15 million (€252.23 million from ENPI and €282.93 million from ERDF) will be made available, subject to the mid-term review of this strategy and the adoption of the Indicative Programme for the period 2011-13.

The Governance Facility & Neighbourhood Investment Fund

A global indicative amount of €400 million has been earmarked for the Governance Facility & Neighbourhood Investment Fund.

According to the European Commission, for the period 2007-2010, the financial envelope is indicatively set for the Governance Facility at €50 million per year. But “as the overall ENPI budget increases overtime, there will be more margin in the latter year of the financial perspective (2011-13).” Therefore the allocations should be distributed to a “very restricted number of countries (in principle one or two) each year.” This was the case in 2007 for Ukraine (€22 million) and Morocco (€28 million).

The Commission has also allocated to the Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF) an indicative amount of €250 million over the next four years and plans to devote a further €450 million over the period 2011-2013 (in total €700 million over 7 years). The Commissioner Mrs Ferrero Waldner, on the occasion of the first meeting of the Governing Board of the NIF held in May 2008, stressed that to really make a difference the NIF needed the financial contribution of the Member States: “this is the first leverage effect of the NIF: Community grant funding matched by Member States’ own grants. A number of Member States have already indicated their readiness to contribute (…)”

In addition to ENPI grant funding, neighbouring countries are eligible, in the period 2007-13, for loan financing through the European Investment Bank up to a total of €12.4 billion under FEMIP, €8.7 billion for Mediterranean countries and €3.7 billion for Eastern Europe, the Southern Caucasus and Russia.