By Salama A Salama In Barcelona EU countries met their 10 Mediterranean partner states, including Egypt, in a summit commemorating the 10th anniversary of the so-called Barcelona process. President Hosni Mubarak, like most Arab leaders, decided to stay away, the reason being the ambiguities surrounding the conference. Ten years ago the Barcelona process focussed on mutual cooperation between the EU and Mediterranean countries across the economic, political and cultural fields, with a view to promoting peace and security. The process promised to help the region towards good governance at a time when Europe was showing a clear interest in resolving the Arab- Israeli conflict. Things have changed since then. While some economic partnerships proved fruitful and there was dialogue on regional issues the process gradually changed direction, especially following 9/11. The focus shifted away from development and peace towards terror, security and immigration. And with security climbing the agenda attempts were made to include NATO in the Euro-Mediterranean partnership. All in all, the Barcelona process has achieved little. Aside from the recent EU role in supervising Gaza border points, Europe has refrained from pushing for peace. The roadmap was derailed as Europe failed to pull its weight in the Quartet. Admittedly, the EU provided large amounts of financial help to the Palestinians, but Israeli military operations undermined the benefits Palestinians might have reaped. And Europe continues to invest heavily in Israel, and says nothing about turning the Middle East into a nuclear-free zone. During the second Bush administration Europe has edged closer to the US on Middle East policy. This is evident in the fact that Europe placed Hamas, then Hizbullah, on its list of terror groups. The Barcelona summit began to lose focus. Instead of addressing the roots of terror it focussed on fighting terrorism. Now Europe is trying to convince Arab countries to denounce Iran, the supposed reason being because the Iranian president threatened to wipe Israel off the map. What Europe seems to forget is that the Iranian president made such statements in response to Israeli- US threats to bomb Iranian nuclear installations. Worse still, many European countries now see their Arab and African communities as a terrorist threat and are introducing extraordinary measures to control communities that are increasingly scapegoated as a cause of unemployment and social chaos. Europe is building walls and detention camps to deter the flood of African immigrants. Meanwhile partnership agreements have failed to revive the poor countries of the southern Mediterranean. At no point has Europe contemplated creating a development plan for the south that matches the Marshall Plan that helped get Europe back on its feet following World War II. The Arabs are concerned over Europe's unquestioning support of the US campaign against Syria, a campaign that is unfolding in a manner reminiscent of the Iraqi scenario. The Syrians have made many errors, especially in Lebanon, but US- European insistence on destabilising the Syrian regime helps no one. The Barcelona process is now focussing on political reform, civil society and terror. It seems to have forgotten its original objectives and lost interest in promoting development and peace in the Middle East. Reform and terror are weighty issues, but it is worrying to see Europe losing interest in development and peace in the Middle East. As things stand Europe seems to be interested only in protecting itself from terrorism and immigration. This situation has created a psychological barrier between Europe and the Arabs. The shift in the spirit of the Barcelona declaration has been great, and has come as a disappointment for Arabs. Is it irreversible?
