EuroMed Forum New Topics

Outcome and Echo of the Euro-Mediterranean Summit held in Barcelona 27-28 November 2005

The Euro-Mediterranean summit has been concluded in Barcelona on Monday 28th November, but most Middle-East leaders had chosen to stay away from gathering where the EU was pushing for further measures to combat terrorism and illegal immigration. For further information about the summit and its' outcome we propose a survey of the different press articles written on the subject. Just follow the link!!

You can also have access to  The Euromediterranean Summit Final Documents:

• Five Year Work Program

• Euro-Mediterranean Code of Conduct on Countering Terrorism

• Chairman's Statement 10th Anniversary Euro-Mediterranean Summit

• 28/10/2005- Barcelona Euromed Summit website

* * * * * * *

The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership marks its tenth anniversary with a major conference in Barcelona.

The conference on 27-28 November 2005 takes place a decade after the launch of the “Barcelona process”, designed in 1995 to foster dialogue between European Union member-states and countries on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean – including the Arab states (among them the Palestinian National Authority, but not Libya), Israel, Cyprus, and Turkey.

The key aim of this new “Euro-Mediterranean Partnership” – as embodied in the wide-ranging “Barcelona Declaration” the participants in the first conference committed themselves to – was to promote democratisation, security and economic growth in the countries to Europe’s south and east. The challenge the partnership addressed was at least partly to demonstrate that the European Union could act in a united and effective manner around the sea – the Romans’ mare nostrum (“our sea”) – that nurtured the historic cultures that shaped modern Europe.

Euromed-Forum has tried to bring together the key texts that will guide the ministerial deliberations and inform the future development of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership itself. (Follow the link)

* * * * * * *

   The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, 10 years later:
                 Where are we now and where are we going tomorrow?

Next month, the Euro Mediterranean Partnership commonly referred to as the ‘Barcelona Process’ will be celebrating 10 years of existence and as for all anniversaries, it is time for evaluation, time to look back and see whether the results achieved came along with the objectives already announced. Peace and prosperity were the objectives of the Euro-Mediterranean partners 10 years ago. We do believe that such targets take as much time to find as they do to live. In order to get an evaluation perspective of the Barcelona process we propose an article of Ms.Neila Akrimi on “The Euro-Mediterranean partnership: space of homogeneous development in global perspective?”. We would like also to share some thought on priorities for the years ahead of the  Euro-Mediterranean relations as presented by Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for External Relations & European Neighbourhood Policy.

  Tenth Anniversary  of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership: A work program to meet the challenges of the next five years. With a Review of the Barcelona Process.

-The Mediterranean Programme of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced   Studies at the European University Institute (Florence, Italy) is pleased to announce its recent publications.

The Mediterranean: Cultural Identity and Prospects for Intercultural Dialogue

The key word to help establish an area of prosperity and peace in the Mediterranean remains the cultural dialogue. The 1995 Barcelona Declaration states the need, in chapter III, to develop a dialogue of cultures and civilisations within the framework of the Mediterranean societies. This is not something that can be easily or quickly carried out. It requires preparation and determination to resolve the differences in our views on the Mediterranean. Thus the Euro-Mediterranean cultural programmes have been reinforced by the setting up of the “Anna Lind Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the dialogue between cultures”. The question is whether this new structure will respond to the need of an efficient cultural dialogue in the Mediterranean? How and to what extent is it able to fulfil the task of bridging the two regional cleavages between rich and poor and between the West and Islam thus urgent and long overdue in the Mediterranean?

Globalisation and Europeanisation: The European Union as a Global Actor

At some point in the studies of world politics and international political economy we will confront two phenomena around which huge literatures have developed: Globalisation with a special focus on its'  legal dimension and Europeanisation. EuroMed forum seeks better understanding of the relationship between these two concepts. It also tackles one of the most enduring question related to this broad issue: to what extent, and in what ways, can the EU act as a leader in the world politics?

Not surprisingly, any attempt to address this issue raises a series of knotty subsidiary problems. For one thing, neither ‘globalisation’ nor ‘europeanisation’ is susceptible to easy, non-contentious definition. Thus EuroMed Forum invites you for a working definition of the two key concepts. Then we will study a number of ways in which the relationship might be thought about. Identifying the interaction between these two phenomena reveals the need for analyzing the evolving role of the EU as a global actor.

We will be happy to receive your comments on these issues. Your reactions will help us keep up the good work.

  The following events are added to the list, for more details see the Events page:

• Training session on International Migration in the Euro-Mediterranean Area and the Enlarged European Union. Florence, 13-18 Decembre 2004.

•  7th  Conference ECSA-World, Brussels, European Commission , 30 November-1st December 2004. 

• Florence School on Euro-Mediterranean Migration and Development, which will take place in Florence from 6 till 24 June 2005.