European Parliament resolution on the Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament to prepare the fourth meeting of Euro-Mediterranean foreign ministers „reinvigorating the Barcelona Process” (COM(2000) 497 — C5-0630/2000 — 2000/2294(COS))
Date: 2001-02-01
Institutions: Committee on Foreign Affairs, European Parliament
Subjects: EU programme, Mediterranean region (EU), cooperation policy, free-trade area

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11. Barcelona process

A5-0009/2001

European Parliament resolution on the Communication from the Commission to the Council and
the European Parliament to prepare the fourth meeting of Euro-Mediterranean foreign ministers
‘reinvigorating the Barcelona Process’ (COM(2000) 497 ( C5-0630/2000 ( 2000/2294(COS))

The European Parliament,

(cid:1) having regard to the Commission Communication (COM(2000) 497 (cid:1) C5-0630/2000),

(cid:1) having regard to Articles 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 23, 27 and 28 of the EU Treaty,

(cid:1) having regard to Rule 47(1) of its Rules of Procedure,

(cid:1) having regard to the common strategy of the European Union on the Mediterranean region which was

adopted by the Feira European Council on 19 June 2000 (1),

(cid:1) having regard to the Final Declaration issued at the end of the First Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary

Forum, which was held in Brussels on 27/28 October 1998,

(cid:1) having regard to its resolution of 11 October 1995 on the Mediterranean policy of the European

Union with a view to the Barcelona Conference (2),

(cid:1) having regard to its resolution of 14 December 1995 on the Euro-Mediterranean Conference in Bar-

celona (3),

(cid:1) having regard to its resolution of 13 March 1997 on the Joint Report by the Presidency of the Council

and the Commission on Mediterranean policy: follow-up to the Barcelona Conference (4),

(cid:1) having regard to its resolution of 14 May 1998 on Euro-Mediterranean agreements (5),

(cid:1) having regard to its resolution of 11 March 1999 on the Commission Communication entitled
‘The role of the European Union in the peace process and its future assistance to the Middle East’ (6),
and its recommendation to the Council on the European Union’s Mediterranean policy (7),

(cid:1) having regard to its resolution of 30 March 2000 on Mediterranean policy (8),

(cid:1) having regard to its many resolutions on the conflict in the Middle East and, in particular, that of

5 October 2000 (9),

(cid:1) having regard to its resolution of 15 November 2000 on EU-Mediterranean policy in the run-up to

the Fourth Meeting of Euro-Mediterranean Ministers for Foreign Affairs in Marseille (10),

(cid:1) having regard to the Barcelona Declaration and the 28 November 1995 work programme which was

adopted at the Barcelona Conference,

(cid:1) having regard to the conclusions of the 15/16 April 1997 Malta Conference, the 3/4 June 1998
Palermo Conference, the 15/16 April 1999 Stuttgart Conference, the 16/17 November 2000 Mar-
seilles Conference and the Malta, Naples, Stuttgart and Marseilles Civic Fora,

(cid:1) having regard to its resolution of 1 February 2001 on the common strategy of the European Union on
the Mediterranean region, as laid down by the Feira European Council of 19 June 2000 (C5-0510/
2000 (cid:1) 2000/2247(COS)) (11),

(1) OJ L 183, 22.7.2000, p. 5.
(2) OJ C 287, 30.10.1995, p. 121.
(3) OJ C 17, 22.1.1996, p. 178.
(4) OJ C 115, 14.4.1997, p. 159.
(5) OJ C 167, 1.6.1998, p. 196.
(6) OJ C 175, 21.6.1999, p. 282.
(7) OJ C 175, 21.6.1999, p. 286.
(8) OJ C 378, 29.12.2000, p. 71.
(9)
‘Texts Adopted’, Item 1.
(10)
‘Texts Adopted’, Item 1.
(11) Texts Adopted, Item 10.

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(cid:1) having regard to the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security
and Defence Policy and the opinions of the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and
Energy and the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport (A5-0009/2001),

Thursday 1 February 2001

A. whereas the new revised Barcelona Process must above all be based on mutual trust, democratic par-

liamentary dialogue and the principles of solidarity and equity,

B. whereas, at the Marseilles Conference, the uncertainty regarding the Middle East situation undermined
the process launched at Barcelona but whereas, in spite of that fact, most of the participants reaf-
firmed the value of the process,

C. noting, however, that in the Union’s political and economic agenda, the absolute priority being
accorded to enlargement to include the countries of northern, central, and eastern Europe is unaccep-
tably at odds with the attention being focused on the Barcelona Process, which has seen virtually no
significant progress in recent years,

D. whereas the EU’s role in the Middle East peace negotiations must be reviewed and acknowledged as a

genuinely political role,

E.

F.

pointing out that positive developments in the Middle East peace process are basic to the consolida-
tion, the strengthening and the relaunch of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership,

having regard to its calls for the establishment of a programme for interregional and transnational
cooperation which would be devoted to complementarity and socio-economic integration, for the
establishment of effective measures for reducing or converting the external debt of the Mediterranean
countries, and for the latter to be offered technical assistance based on that offered to the countries of
central and eastern Europe with a view to harmonising the investment laws of the Mediterranean
countries,

G.

calling once again for an ambitious overall strategy to be pursued in the Mediterranean and for all the
partners to display a common political determination, so as to ensure that the regional-cooperation
programmes which are currently under way can be brought to a successful conclusion and new ones
can be launched, thereby promoting, among other things, South-South trade,

H. whereas the partnership must be pursued through an open parliamentary dialogue, focusing not least

on fundamental issues such as agriculture, fisheries and the free movement of persons,

I.

J.

regretting that, despite the signing of association agreements incorporating democracy and human
rights clauses, the situation is none the less increasingly deteriorating in some countries,

noting that the sustainable-development and environment aspects have not been properly encom-
passed within partnership activities as a whole,

K. whereas the Euro-Mediterranean parliamentary dialogue may be regarded as one of the keys to the
new Barcelona Process and willing, therefore, to do all it can in order to ensure that the second Euro-
Mediterranean Parliamentary Forum takes place in the very near future,

L.

having regard to the inadequacy of the budget adopted in Marseilles for the 2000-2006 period
(€ 5,35 billion),

M. whereas the Euro-Mediterranean partnership suffers at one and the same time from a lack of political
will on the part of the EU, the lack of a strategic vision and the weakness of an institutional system
overburdened by an excessive workload,

1.
Insists that the Union implement an external policy for the Mediterranean region which is commen-
surate with its great ambitions and points out that in the Barcelona Declaration the Member States empha-
sised the strategic importance of the Mediterranean and the special nature of the bonds forged by proxi-
mity and history;

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Reiterates its conviction that the Barcelona Process aims at the establishment of a common area

2.
based on respect for human rights, individual freedom and democratic principles;

Draws attention, notwithstanding the difficulties encountered in the Middle-East peace process, to the
3.
need to pursue the Barcelona objectives, stressing the importance of the spirit of partnership, developing
economic exchanges, simplifying procedures and continuing the dialogue on various issues, such as human
rights, the safety of individuals and improvement of their living conditions, sustainable development and
decentralised cooperation;

4. Maintains that a solution to the conflict in the Middle East is an essential condition for achieving
peace and stability in the Mediterranean region, which means the right to security for Israel and for all
the other countries in the region, and in particular recognition of the legitimate right of the Palestinian
people to have a viable State and of the Israeli people’s equally legitimate right to security;

5.
Calls on the Council and the Commission to consider eventually setting up an Association of Euro-
Mediterranean States which would be capable of developing a more integrated partnership, of managing
the funds allocated to it, of laying down broad guidelines and of both implementing and monitoring devel-
opment projects;

6.
Recommends that, when the Barcelona Process is revised, there should be no ranking within the
order of priorities and that the qualitative importance to be attached to social aspects (such as health,
education, training, the rights of women and children, the preservation of a sustainable environment and
infrastructure projects) and to cultural and immigration issues should be equivalent to that given to eco-
nomic, trade and security considerations;

7.

Insists that the Euro-Mediterranean Charter for Peace and Stability be adopted without delay;

Renews its call for the association agreements to be replaced eventually by a single multilateral agree-

8.
ment;

Hopes that the association agreements with countries with which negotiations are still in progress
9.
will be concluded as rapidly as possible and that all the parties will cooperate to ensure that the negotia-
tions may soon be concluded;

Recommends that each country which ratifies an association agreement with the EU should sign

10.
free-trade agreements with all other association agreement signatories within five years;

11.
Stresses the objective laid down at the Marseille conference of establishing a free-trade area encom-
passing all sectors and helping to improve the quality of life in all the countries involved, and calls for
impact studies with regard to the social and environmental consequences on both sides of the Mediterra-
nean;

12.
Hopes that a sustainability study will be conducted to gauge the social and environmental conse-
quences of the economic measures to be implemented for the purposes of the free trade area, since this
will make it possible to deal more effectively with the problems and threats hanging over the region, for
example public health problems, water management, pollution, desertification, the rapid growth of tourism
and population pressure;

13.
Believes that the experience acquired in completing a single market should be turned to account
with a view to laying down a body of rules to govern the Euro-Mediterranean free trade areas and that, by
2002, in close cooperation with the appropriate authorities in the countries concerned, a timetable of
harmonisation measures should be drawn up for certain priority sectors (rules of origin, customs matters,
standards, and intellectual property); considers that that timetable must be established in strict cooperation
with the competent authorities in the countries concerned;

14.
Points out to the Commission that the introduction of the structural adjustment programmes
entailed in the association agreements leads too often to adverse economic consequences (not least for
SMUs and SMI) and social damage (rising unemployment) that need to be forestalled;

15.
Calls on the Council and the Commission, in the wake of the decisions taken in Nice, to envisage
negotiations on a revision of agricultural access schemes and to consider converting the planned free-trade
area into a genuine ‘common market’ encompassing goods of all kinds;

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16.
Calls on the Council and Commission to prohibit exports by European countries to Mediterranean
partner countries of food, food product or animal feedingstuff ingredients produced using substances
banned in the European Union and to introduce a system of controls to ensure that food, food product
or animal feedingstuff ingredients produced in the Mediterranean partner countries for export to EU mar-
kets do not contain substances banned in the Union;

17.
Stresses the importance of cumulation of origin as a means of promoting, in particular, the intro-
duction of harmonised rules of origin in free-trade agreements, enabling wider use of diagonal cumulation
and subregional cooperation between partners; more extensive diagonal cumulation should be introduced
between all partners concluding free-trade arrangements and applying harmonised rules of origin;

Calls for the development as soon as possible of extensive South-South trade, allowing greater inte-

18.
gration between the economies of Mediterranean countries and steady investment growth;

19.
Considers, in particular, that the necessary steps should be taken to invite partner countries to
implement policies aimed at convergence with the Euro and intra-Mediterranean legislative harmonisation
policies;

20.
Calls on the Commission and Council to consider whether they might draw up an ‘agriculture-
oriented Euro-Mediterranean development policy’, bearing in mind that agriculture has important social,
spatial and environmental dimensions;

21.
Calls for the Barcelona Process to operate within a cohesion policy covering the Euro-Mediterranean
area as a whole, taking account in particular, in keeping with the views endorsed by the Nice European
Council, of the need for specific measures in support of island regions and backward inland regions, given
their structural disadvantages, which are obstructing their economic and social development;

Believes that a greater effort should be made to establish a suitably frank and responsible dialogue
22.
on matters such as human rights, the prevention of terrorism, and migration, and to work towards con-
solidation in the social and cultural sphere and further progress in the trade sphere by encouraging liberal-
isation of the Mediterranean partners’ economic systems and implementing the structural reforms required
to enable them to compete on more open markets in a mutually beneficial fashion and with due respect
for social rights;

23.
Calls on the Council and the Commission to open a broad debate involving the public authorities in
the fifteen Member States, representative associations and the European Parliament with a view to identify-
ing means and legal instruments for introducing harmonised laws in all the Member States for the purpose
of regulating migration;

Believes that the object of that debate should be to enable migration (including measures to combat
24.
illegal immigration and the mafias which profit from it) to be managed jointly, lay down policies on
temporary migration (without entitlement to family reunification or residence), introduce a special travel
visa for those involved in the Euro-Mediterranean partnership, harness immigration to assist development
in countries of origin (aid for migrants’ projects in their countries of origin), and bring about an explicit
integration policy in host countries in relation to legally established immigrants;

25.
Expresses the wish that the Commission will carry forward the planned regional programme on
justice and home affairs, giving special consideration to cooperation in action to combat illegal immigra-
tion and trafficking in human beings geared to an improved understanding of the link between the phe-
nomenon of economic and commercial globalisation and migration and the establishment of co-develop-
ment strategies.

26.

Calls on the Euro-Mediterranean Forum to set up a migration committee;

27.
Proposes that the Commission set up a migration monitoring centre to keep all matters related to
migration in the Mediterranean region under constant and detailed review, working in conjunction with
the appropriate committee of the Euro-Mediterranean Forum;

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28.
Calls on the Council and Commission expressly to recognise the role of Mediterranean capital cities,
to encourage them to establish relations, and, under decentralised programmes focusing on specific urban
problems such as the provision of public utilities, the flight from the land, transport and communication
networks, health and housing policy, conservation of cultural assets, and pollution control, to foster an
exchange of experiences among Mediterranean towns and cities, whether lying on the northern or south-
ern shore of the Mediterranean;

29.
Calls on the Commission and the Member States to facilitate the participation of Mediterranean
island regions of both the EU and partner countries in the various regional cooperation actions and pro-
jects;

30.
Calls on the Council and the Commission to ensure that decentralised cooperation is effectively
relaunched on a long-term basis, to suggest means of encouraging dialogue between civil societies and of
involvement of local power and institutions and, within a reasonable period of time, to propose clear,
transparent alternative arrangements to complement or to replace the MED programmes which are cur-
rently frozen;

Recommends improving the European Union’s strategy vis-à-vis the Mediterranean region by

31.
strengthening cross-border projects and decentralised cooperation, centred on sustainable development;

32. Welcomes the proposal to develop regional cooperation programmes with smaller numbers of
Member States and Mediterranean countries and calls on the Commission to ensure that this process
takes place in an open and transparent manner so as to guarantee that it will be possible for partner
countries to participate if they so wish;

Stresses the importance, in relation to the proposal for subregional cooperation, of guaranteeing

33.
and maintaining a balanced relationship between the western and eastern Mediterranean;

34.
Calls for regional cooperation projects to be brought into line with environmental requirements and
sustainable development: partner countries are asked to take the necessary measures with regard to inte-
grated management of water resources, waste disposal, critical points (polluted areas and biodiversity risks),
integrated management of coastal areas and measures to combat desertification, making use of the Euro-
pean Union’s know-how and experience;

35.
Calls on the Commission to give special consideration in regional programmes to the social sector,
paying particular attention to the participation of trade union organisations both at the level of the coun-
tries concerned and at supranational level, ensuring that training policies are geared towards labour market
needs, creating social security networks and modern methods of cooperation in social security systems;

36.
Calls on the Council and the Commission to promote a policy on microprojects and to propose
rules for implementing them since the importance of such projects, particularly in terms of democratisa-
tion, must be boosted by civil society at local level;

37.
Considers it desirable to encourage the investment essential for economic development, taking
advantage of the experience resulting from the MEDA Programme and the financial support granted
under it, and, with that end in view, working in collaboration with the Member States’ chambers of com-
merce, to update the guides aimed at investors;

38.
Calls on the Council, the Commission and the associated Mediterranean countries to give priority to
support to private investment, this being a crucial factor for the success of the Barcelona Process and of
mutual economic development;

39.
Points in particular to the importance of approximation of local laws on foreign direct investment
and of correct and transparent enforcement of the rules governing the industrial development programmes
already being implemented;

40.
Calls on the Commission and Council, given that the matter is one that is very severely impeding
the development efforts of the Mediterranean partner countries, to study the various options for debt con-
version; believes that debt conversion should serve to finance any project combining investment and
employment, especially for the benefit of young people;

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41.
Calls on the Commission, within the framework of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation, to develop
appropriate mechanisms for the promotion of business activities, including legislative and administrative
regulations to create a climate favourable to investment and private initiative, under a procedure geared to
transparency and trust;

42.
Hopes that a particular place will be assigned to SMEs and very small businesses in strengthening
the Euro-Mediterranean industrial partnership; calls for the development of technical and financial assist-
ance programmes specific to SMEs and very small businesses in the Mediterranean countries in order to
encourage the diversification of the industrial fabric in these countries;

Calls on the Council and the Commission to ensure that, under MEDA, financial commitments

43.
accompanied by fixed timetables for each funding project are efficiently implemented;

Calls on the Commission, as part of the MEDA programme, to promote the possibility of develop-

44.
ing the necessary infrastructure for the further expansion of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation;

45.
Calls on the Commission to put forward regional cooperation programmes in the field of training
and occupational retraining and to encourage exchanges of experience and staff in the context of the
reform and modernisation of education and training systems, in particular with regard to migration flows;

46.
Recommends that the Commission and the Member States pursue the objectives of technological
development and scientific research in the countries of the southern Mediterranean; in this connection,
calls for the establishment of synergies and exchanges between universities, and support for the establish-
ment of centres of excellence in these countries by involving them in European research activities and
allowing them to participate in the current Sixth Research Framework Programme;

47.
Stresses the importance of innovation as a factor in the development of the Mediterranean coun-
tries; encouragement should be given to the construction and development of innovation centres and sec-
toral technical centres, and to networking among them; the good practices found in some countries should
be supported, as should increased cooperation with laboratories, research centres and centres of techno-
logy in the European Union;

48.
Calls on the Council and Commission to impress upon the Mediterranean partners at all times that
they must respect human rights and, when the occasion demands, to employ the procedures set out in the
association agreements with a view to enforcing them;

49.
Calls on the governments of the Member States to ensure that migrants resident in the EU enjoy
equal treatment in respect of economic and social rights and recognition of civic, cultural and political
rights, with particular reference to the right to vote in local and European elections;

50.
Declares its opposition to the practice of capital punishment and appeals to the Mediterranean
partner countries to impose a moratorium on executions; calls also on the Commission to take steps to
support the awareness campaigns seeking a moratorium on executions;

51.
Insists on a much more active role for civil society (migrants, local communities, businesses, uni-
versities, trade unions, associations) as a way of ensuring that society as a whole is more extensively
involved in the activities, and derives greater benefit from the Barcelona Process;

52.
Is convinced, in this regard, that more efforts should be made so as to develop and support truly
independent NGOs, including the possibility for international NGOs to be established and operate freely in
all the 27 countries of the Barcelona Process;

53.

Calls on the Commission to ensure that among the priority areas the following are emphasised:

(a)

integrated cultural tourism management to ensure that the cultural and natural heritage is protected;

(b) mobility and training programmes for trainers and the teaching profession;

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(c)

cooperation and training programmes between universities in Mediterranean countries;

(d)

teaching of the languages and common culture of the Mediterranean;

(e)

teaching of new technologies and provision of the requisite infrastructure in education centres;

(f)

joint Euromed initiatives on sport activities;

(g) development of sport for girls and boys as an emancipating factor;

54.
Calls on the Commission to promote the Euromed Heritage programme, with particular emphasis
on the creation of partnerships and networks in connection with the common archaeological heritage, the
study and identification of the cultural legacy of the past, including the dissemination of the literature of
the great writers of the past, and research and technologies for the protection of the dead cities or historic
cities of the desert;

Calls on the Commission to draw up programmes aimed at educating and including women in

55.
university life, work and business;

Proposes in this connection that Mediterranean universities intensify their inter-university cooper-

56.
ation and that the necessary financial resources be earmarked to enable them to do so;

Calls on the Commission to make education a priority objective, in order for the people of the

57.
Mediterranean countries to feel free and to be able to be responsible for their own futures;

Calls on the Commission to prevent aid going to bodies, firms or environments which discriminate

58.
against women in the educational, social and sport spheres;

Calls on the Commission to reactivate the Med-Media programme, and to require it to be open to

59.
all the Mediterranean countries;

60.
Calls on the Commission to foster decentralised cooperation programmes and initiatives which pro-
mote exchanges between all the agents involved in development, as set out by the Barcelona Declaration in
the section on collaboration in social, cultural and human affairs, in order to liberalise and invigorate the
system, and thus create more potential for cultural development;

61.
Considers that information and dialogue with citizens are key elements in giving impetus to the
Barcelona process; calls on the Commission to include a chapter on the Euro-Mediterranean partnership
in its communication on the European Union’s information and communication strategy.

Calls on the Commission to introduce an information and communication programme as soon as

62.
possible to inform EU citizens about partner countries;

63.
Calls for the introduction of information campaigns inter alia for business circles such as Chambers
of Commerce and the organisations concerned to be promoted in order to draw the attention of potential
investors to long-term investment opportunities in productive sectors in the countries of the Mediterranean
Basin;

64.
Calls on the Commission to endeavour to promote the information society and, in particular, elec-
tronic commerce activities so as to modernise the economies of the southern Mediterranean and create
skilled jobs;

65.
Calls for appropriate measures to be taken to develop the information society and the use of the
Internet and all new electronic communication systems and to encourage partner countries to invest in
training and education at school level;

66.
Calls on the Commission to make an effort in the future to adapt its calls for tenders and pro-
grammes to the scale of some countries which are accustomed to family businesses and to forms of civil
society groupings very different from those in continental Europe;

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67.
Calls on the Commission, in view of the difficulties encountered to date in trying to ensure that the
programmes are well managed, to institute the specific checks necessary to ensure that the associations or
organisations which receive aid are solidly anchored within the social security system and meet their obli-
gations;

68.
Calls on the Commission, when implementing the aid programmes, particularly the MEDA pro-
gramme, to use the universities, museums and cultural centres of the countries themselves as support,
since these are bodies where civil society operates, and are therefore strongly linked with the fabric of
society and the system of production, and can collaborate closely in disseminating technologies and man-
agement and innovation models;

69.
Hopes that the Euro-Mediterranean Forum will be a genuine contact point for Members of Parlia-
ment from the EU and the Mediterranean countries, thereby helping to revitalise and expand the Euro-
Mediterranean partnership;

Calls in addition for a standing body to be set up to bring together Members of the European

70.
Parliament and Members of the parliaments of partner countries;

71.
Calls on the Council and Commission, as part of the reforms now taking place in the external
service, to increase the volume of human resources allocated to the partnership, to set up a structure
which is specific to the Commission and to take further steps to devolve the management of aid, by
transferring responsibilities from the seat of authority to the delegations, and also to decentralise it, by
transferring responsibilities from the Commission to the recipient countries (as the Commission has under-
taken to do in general terms in its communication to the Council and Parliament concerning the develop-
ment of the external service, COM(2000) 456);

72. Welcomes the Union’s proposed action plan for Morocco and notes that its aim is development
cooperation and that practical solutions to outstanding issues must therefore be found quickly; calls on
the Council and Commission, therefore, to ensure that the programme abides by that aim;

Calls on the Council to exert the pressure needed to bring about a change in policy and on Com-

73.
mission to ensure that the Union assumes a more ambitious political role in the Mediterranean region;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission and to the
74.
governments and parliaments of the Member States and the Mediterranean partner states which are signa-
tory to the Barcelona Declaration.

12. ‘Plan Colombia’

B5-0087/2001

European Parliament resolution on Plan Colombia and support for the peace process in Colombia

The European Parliament,

(cid:1) having regard to its previous resolutions on Colombia,

(cid:1) having regard to the conclusions of the General Affairs Council of 9 October 2000,

(cid:1) having regard to the statement by the EU Presidency of 25 October 2000,

A. whereas, in spite of concerted efforts at dialogue with the guerrillas and the peace talks under way, the
parties have not yet succeeded in bringing an end to a conflict which has lasted for over three decades,