ADDRESS BY H.E. PROF. GUIDO DE MARCO, PRESIDENT OF MALTA, ON THE OCCASION OF THE CELEBRATIONS OF THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BARCELONA CONFERENCE WHICH LAUNCHED THE EURO-MEDITERRANEAN PROCESS

Five years ago here in Barcelona we sought to create, to breathe life into the promise of peace.

Today we have gathered again to celebrate but also to ponder and ask ourselves a question. Do we have cause for celebration or concern?

This question is in itself as loaded with complexity as is the region which surrounds us. The question is as complex and intricate as the chequered history of the Mediterranean.

Five years ago we sought to bring the pieces together, to form a mosaic as rich as those we find scattered along different shores of this sea - a legacy of the Roman empire - a set of different elements which by will and design we seek to fit into a harmonious whole.

Have we managed? Or have circumstances circumscribed our initiatives?

I ask these questions out of a sincere wish to assess - to reassess - to see how far we have come and how much further we still have to go.

The past five years have been a journey in mixed feelings and experiences. We have both cause for celebration and concern. We celebrate because notwithstanding the constant difficulties and setbacks, the Euro-Mediterranean Process has survived. We are concerned because we have not come as far as we had hoped.

It is moments like these which demand a reflection. What is it that we had hoped to achieve? Perhaps conscious and cognisant of the success of the European Union, we were inspired to seek partnership built on a comprehensive approach. The economic, the cultural, the social and the political - these form the basis of human activity and, if treated at the regional level, they could together give us that unique melange which is at the basis of stability. Full of expectation, we thought we could achieve that which, through trial and tribulation, had been created in nearly fifty years on the European continent and that we could apply this to the Mediterranean.

Hence we gave birth to the Euro-Mediterranean Process, hoping, in some way or another, that this too, following the example of what had happened in Europe, could lead to a desired successful outcome. It is an exercise in peace-building, in an era where peace no longer depends on all that is political or military, but on a stability built on the economics of peace, on the social benefits of peace, on the human understanding which underpins peace.

Has the target of 2010 for the establishment of a Free Trade Area already started to slip away and slide into an always regressing horizon?

We have set ourselves the goal of a Charter for Peace and Security in the Mediterranean – an admirable effort which is fraught with difficulties, if nothing else because it brings to the fore the very delicate and difficult questions relating to a lasting peace in the Middle East. It is necessary that we make of this Charter a reality, since it holds the promise of cementing further confidence-building measures on a regional level. Five years ago in Barcelona, I had referred to Malta's embryonic idea of a Stability Pact for the Mediterranean as "an exercise in pre-emptive diplomacy." This idea has today evolved into the Charter for Peace and Security in the Mediterranean. Now, as then, "it has to be above all an alliance in partnership between Mediterranean States."

The Charter will remain a key document which will complete the Process, but one which if seen as a sole objective may be detrimental to the true meaning of a Partnership. For this is perhaps where we have been eluded - the transition from Process to Partnership - a Process can be cold and cynical - a Partnership by definition and substance cannot. A Partnership requires the commitment and engagement of peoples.

Several of us present today witnessed, in one form or another, the tragic events of the Second World War. Members of the distinguished audience certainly remember the tension of the various phases of the Cold War. All of us hailed the tearing down of the Iron Curtain. What amazed us was the force of the people that could not and would not be stopped by tanks and threats. It was a revolution built on years of suffering and strife, built on the explosiveness of silence and induced numbness.

Perhaps it is this revolution we wish to see in the Mediterranean too: a revolution for peace - an evolution of confidence, from confrontation to co-operation.

We acknowledge that historically, in the Mediterranean region, societies evolved on different tracks, embraced different customs and cultures. However, this is what constitutes the profound richness of the Mediterranean - its diversity, its uniqueness.

The Euro-Mediterranean Process was created to foster closer ties on the political, economic, and social-cultural levels in recognition of the principle enshrined in Helsinki I, that stability in Europe depends on the stability in the Mediterranean, and vice-versa.

We must assess what has been achieved whilst looking critically but constructively at possible improvements which we may interject into the Barcelona Process. Based on our experience so far, we may look at structural and institutional adjustments such as the composition of the Secretariat, as well as the rotation of the Presidency of the Process, in a manner that reflects the multifaceted Euro-Med composition.

Even though political will remains at the basis of regional developments, changes must be geared at giving a greater voice to Euro-Med members in issues that are of primary concern to the region such as the tension and conflict in the Middle East. For the Euro-Med Partnership to acquire a greater relevance and credibility, it is of the essence that a permanent linkage be established to developments in the Middle East. It is our collective concern, our collective responsibility, to find a just solution to the perennial crisis between Israel and the Palestinians. Recent events have made us realise even more that the Middle East conflict has hypothecated all possible progress in the Euro Mediterranean Region.

The Conclusions of the Marseilles Ministerial Conference last week acknowledged the fact that much still needs to be done. The political pillar will remain one of the cornerstones of the Process but indeed not the only one. It remains one of our primary objectives, but alone it will not make of the Mediterranean a sea of stability and peace - alone it will not provide us with the key ingredient whereby we can make the transition from Process to Partnership.

A Partnership necessitates a "people to people" approach built on the potential of youth and education, on the benefits of tolerance and understanding. Hence the need to find acceptable solutions to the problems endemic to our region, to issues relating to sustainable development, poverty and unemployment. The cross-fertilisation of ideas, experiences and culture, will be the coagulant of a true Partnership, a Partnership realising the concept of political and cultural unity in diversity.

My country has a direct interest in the success of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. Malta is the quintessentially Euro-Mediterranean country. Our language, our history, our identity have been forged by pluri-millennial events in this region. We have always promoted our vision of stability in the region and will continue pursuing this goal. The Government of Malta believes that it can best contribute to the Mediterranean dimension of Europe as a full member of the European Union.

I am glad to be here today in Barcelona because I feel that history has bequeathed us a major responsibility – that of searching for the paths that lead us on to avenues of peace, in the Mediterranean region and beyond. Five years along the road of co-operative engagement we may draw conclusions in order to trace the avenues ahead.

As Pericles remarked, not everybody is able to formulate his own political agenda, but everybody is able to judge policies and political agendas.

Our hope is that future generations will have ample reasons to judge our Euro-Mediterranean endeavours positively. And our greatest endeavour will be that of bequeathing a future of peace built on a true Partnership.