Mr President, the idea that the Mediterranean is the number one priority of European Union external policy stems from the conviction that, although the Mediterranean is no longer the centre of the world, each and every one of the great contradictions and challenges of the twenty-first century are concentrated there. The Mediterranean provides a dramatic example of the issue of war and peace. The issue of North-South relations is spectacularly alive in the Mediterranean. The very fashionable issue of the clash of cultures or dialogue between cultures is symbolised by the Mediterranean. The emergence of xenophobia and racism, or tolerance and multiculturalism, is most intensely illustrated in the Mediterranean. The question of democracy and human rights or authoritarianism is alive in the Mediterranean and will continue to be so in the coming years. The issue of regional responses to the challenges of globalisation is being raised in the Mediterranean. The issue of women’s emancipation or repression is also at its most intense in the Mediterranean region. There is no need to insist therefore that this is our fundamental priority, because the prospects for its future remain completely open, while enlargement will take time, it will have its costs and its problems, but the only reasonable outcome that anyone can imagine is that it will eventually take place. In the Mediterranean, a ‘sandbelt’ or a ‘slumbelt’ may be created in the twenty-first century, and both issues are dramatically highlighted. The two contributions presented here today, in the European Parliament, are contributions to the relaunch of the Euro-Mediterranean policy. I believe that Mr Patten and Mr Solana would do very well to read these reports, and in particular, the report by my friend and teacher, Sami Naïr, because it makes a very coherent and well put together list of themes, which calls for a political proposal. This policy was well defined in Barcelona five years ago but today it needs not only a new expression of will but also the ability to implement initiatives. We must achieve – above all in the Mediterranean, and we Mediterraneans know this – something very important: things need to be explained. Nevertheless, if anything is lacking today, it is symbolic specific action, a strong signal that the Union, the Council, the Commission and Parliament, are truly interested in this relaunch, which goes beyond words and speeches. In this regard, I would like to draw attention to an aspect of Sami Naïr’s report: the need to create strong initiatives in the fields of South-South trade and for subregional integration or integration in the southern Mediterranean region. We need something strong. I do not know exactly what it may be, but it must truly win over public opinion in the South so that people can see that the European Union clearly has, as well as a well drawn-up policy, the will to create banking and financial instruments, railways that lead to subregional integration in the South or networks of roads and motorways. This message must make a genuine contribution to this renewal of the will for integration which, above all in the Maghreb, is a cause for hope at the moment and which must count on an ambitious and also generous contribution from the Union.

Political group: PSE