A recently released report appraises the first decade of the Barcelona process. Niveen Wahish looks at the findings When the Barcelona process, meant as a framework for North-South cooperation, was launched in 1995, it targeted the creation of a Euro-Mediterranean area with 15 EU member states and 12 Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs). Ten years on, that has changed. The EU today is 25 members with three candidates, six potential candidates and the number of Mediterranean partner countries is down to nine. A recent report issued by Femise, a Euro- Mediterranean network comprising more than 80 independent economic institutes, assesses the Barcelona process 10 years on in light of these changes. The report, which said that very little of the declaration's objectives have actually been achieved, pointed out that despite the fact that negotiations under Barcelona revolved around the free trade of industrial goods, trade liberalisation has not yet yielded the expected effect of higher growth in the South. It said that competing with the European markets did not improve the quality or the productivity of the South Mediterranean products. And in the meantime, South- South integration has failed to move forward. The report shows that the Barcelona process was not tightly knit to achieve the desired effect. Comparing the effect of Barcelona on MPCs to the effect of the closer relationship on the accession countries, the report demonstrates how central and Eastern European countries, because of their promise of deeper integration with the EU, had a deeper commitment to adhere to the economic model of the EU which gave an incentive to further reform. The same, the report showed, applies for Turkey. It said that the promise of integration has helped Turkey define its programme of reform, and also has provided a benchmark which has enabled it to assess its reform process. That was not the case with MPCs. The report questioned whether "the mere promise of gradual participation in the internal EU market over the medium to long term is strong enough to attract the neighbours when today they are a very long way from European standards." The report also attempts an assessment of the European Neighbourhood Policy as the suggested replacement for Barcelona. It regards the ENP as risking to further dilute the Barcelona process. It points out that the ENP is targeting a 25-member EU, three candidates, six potential candidates and 16 neighbours, which means that it includes countries of a great diversity linked by neither history, nor geography or culture. This, it said, "does not correspond to the very strong symbolism inspired by the Barcelona declaration". ENP, according to the report, aims at defining with partner countries, a range of priorities the realisation of which will bring them closer with the EU. These priorities will be integrated into action plans, jointly adopted, covering a number of key domains which require a specific course of action, political dialogue, and reform preparing partners to progressive participation in the internal market, law and internal matters, energy and transport among other things. To enable the ENP to strengthen the Barcelona process, the report stresses that the ENP does not "override bilateral EU-Med relations at the expense of the multilateral dimension", adding that it is important to remember the Mediterranean historical relationship with Europe. "With the ENP, the relative hierarchy among the unions partners must be redefined, which carries the risk of the loss of the historic specificity of the relationship between Europe and the Mediterranean." In the same context, the report stressed that the EU should make sure the Mediterranean does not lose its identity amidst the array of new neighbours, and that funds to be specified for the area not depend on the needs of others. The financial package for the ENP will cover an area from Russia to Morocco, including countries in the South Caucuses. "The geographical allocation of this financial package will have to ensure that amounts allocated to the MPCs will indeed be used for the MPCs, should any other neighbour be in need." In the meantime, the report recommends that there should be increased support for South- South cooperation as a means of crossing the development gap. That is one of the factors to provide for the creation of 35 million new jobs needed in the next 15 years in Mediterranean countries to keep unemployment stable at its current rate of 15 to 20 per cent. The report points out th at while the Barcelona process helped in "instituting primary reform drivers, a more comprehensive reform is needed to address the pressing development needs." Femise suggested that ENP should push for reform in other areas of economic regulation with a special emphasis on the harmonisation of rules and standards. However, the report emphasised, ENP must in no event be a substitute to the Barcelona process. It said that on the contrary, it must allow its reinforcement and contribute to maintaining its identity.
