Europe and the Mediterranean : Propositions for building a major region with global influence
Abderrahmane Hadj Nacer, former governor of the Bank of Algeria and Carmen Romero, member of the Maghreb delegation of the European Parliament, both co-presidents of IPEMED’s Political Steering Committee, have presented to the Political committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean (PA-UfM) the conclusions of the report requested in February of 2013 by the President of the European Parliament and former president of the PA-UfM, Martin Schulz, on the reworking of North-South relations in the Mediterranean.
This report entitled “Europe and the Mediterranean: propositions for building a major region with global influence” offers food for thought and collaboration to foster the building of an integrated, lasting and united region.
Countries of the North, South and East of the Mediterranean are confronted to the challenge of renewal. To tackle this issue, the authors suggest a new approach based on four factors :
- base all shared construction in close relation with the societies : build the Mediterranean with and for the Mediterranean;
- basing on concrete activities – cultural, economical, political, social – implemented on the field, accept the principle of the implementation of a project-based approach with variable perimeters;
- rebalancing North-South relations on a fair basis : the time when the North looked down the South is over;
- comforting a “project-based Mediterranean area” since projects involve working together, which helps build trust.
This approach is divided into two time slices :
> Concrete projects for the short term, carried on by the implementation of euro-Mediterranean projects :
- Make general security the basis of a pact of trust : security for investments, energy supply security, secure access to drinking water and sanitation, food security, civil protection, etc
- Tackle together the issue of « ill-gotten gains” by ensuring the traceability of money resulting from corruption and drug trafficking notably.
- Foster economic regional integration by deploying shared value and production chains
- Found a “Euro-Mediterranean Energy Community”
- Create a developpement bank for the region
- Build and integrated knowledge area by supporting research programs and encouraging the mobility of scientists from North and South;
- Rethink serenely the issue of mobility : notably by moving from an administrative approach to migration to an economic approach to mobility
- Tackle environmental challenges together by building public assets on a regional scale
> Long-term visions to build together : establish a dialogue tool, a permanent forum for joint
work on themes of common interest, with no exceptions: the “Conference on Solidarity and Cooperation in the Mediterranean” linked with civil society initiatives.
