Europe supports strategic backing to south-Mediterranean countries

The European Union is projecting to extend strategic backing to its partners in the south Mediterranean, as part of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership new orientation, said Thursday Chris Patten, European foreign relations Commissioner, expected in Morocco on Monday.

This approach is in tune with the EU will to promote regional integration with its Mediterranean partners through the creation of a large free-trade area likely to attract more foreign capital, Patten told MAP.

He welcomed the agreement signed recently in Morocco by Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan for the creation of a free-trade area and assured that the Union will extend the needed technical assistance to the project.

Despite the difficult political context in the region, Patten said he was optimistic as to the future of Euro-Mediterranean partnership as the ministerial conference held last November in France showed consensus on the need to revive the partnership.

Since this meeting, he went on, significant progress has been made with the continuation of negotiations for association agreements with south-Mediterranean countries.

While the agreement with Egypt has been initialed and will be signed shortly, he added similar agreements will hopefully be reached this year with Algeria and Lebanon and next year with Syria.

For the EU official, the EU enlargement to east European countries is a stimulus for Mediterranean countries to move forward in their own regional integration process. It is necessary to create a dynamic similar to the one going on in candidate east-European countries, he advised.

Regarding the Sahara issue, Patten said the European commission which supports the United Nations efforts to reach a lasting and mutually-accepted solution is currently exploring possibilities of bringing a positive contribution to the process.