BARCELONA, Spain, November 28 (IslamOnline.net & News
Agencies) Europe and its mostly Muslim southern neighbors clinched a
last-minute agreement on a code of conduct to fight terrorism on Monday,
November 28, though the two sides failed to agree a definition for
terrorism.
"It's as strong a statement as you can possibly have on the
unified determination to fight terrorism in all its forms," British Prime
Minister Tony Blair told a news conference, reported Reuters.
"Terrorism can never be justified," he said.
"This is a very important moment both for the European
countries and for our other colleagues round the table," said Blair,
co-hosting the summit with his Spanish counterpart Jose Luis Rodriguez
Zapatero.
"Definitional issues will run their course."
After hours of wrangling, a final compromise omitted both the
EU's insistence that self-determination could not be used to justify
terrorism and the Arabs' demand to distinguish between terrorism and the
right to resist foreign occupation.
The leaders were unable to agree on a planned common vision
document because of differences over what to say about the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Instead the presidency issued a statement calling for a just,
two-state solution.
The summit is to mark the 10th anniversary of the so-called
Euro-Mediterranean partnership, otherwise known as the Barcelona Process,
launched in the Spanish city in 1995.
The Euromed partnership joins the 25-nation EU with Algeria,
Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria,
Tunisia and Turkey.
Resistance
Discord over the definition of terrorism marked the two-day
gathering, which was portrayed by the EU as a bid to revitalize a
10-year-old partnership with its Mediterranean-rim partners.
Arab partners wanted the EU to distinguish between terrorism
and the right to resist occupation, while the Europeans and Israel opposed
any qualification of terrorism.
"Success in confronting terrorism on the regional or
international levels is contingent upon addressing its root causes and
protecting the rights of peoples under foreign occupation to resistance,"
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq Al-Shara told the summit.
Spain - co-hosting the summit - has lobbied for a greater EU
commitment to North Africa.
Madrid believes more prosperity in Africa will help stem the
flow of illegal migrants desperate to reach wealthy Europe and counter
extremist beliefs that feed terrorism.
Immigration
The summit also agreed on a raft of initiatives to combat
illegal immigration, while fostering legal migration flows as a means of
allowing wealth to flow from north to south.
Zapatero said the summiteers favored "regulated, ordered,
well-managed migration, and Barcelona has taken important steps to that
end."
The summit also agreed on a five-year work plan to cement
relations between the two regional groups.
European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said that
Europe was "now building a bridge to the south" having held firm during
the Cold War until the barriers between Western and Eastern Europe
disappeared.
Money for Reform
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"We find it humiliating that the
Europeans demand reforms from us in exchange for a few euros," said
Belkhadem.
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Arab delegations expressed frustration that terrorism and
immigration bumped economic development down the list of
priorities.
"We find it humiliating that the Europeans demand reforms
from us in exchange for a few euros," said Algerian minister of state
Abdelaziz Belkhadem.
Arab analysts maintained that the summit should have done
more to press for development, although the meeting did see the creation
of a 45 million euro (52.6 million dollar) risk capital investment fund
for Maghreb-region firms, rising to a potential 100 million
euros.
The summit was clouded by the absence of eight Arab
leaders.
European Parliament head Josep Borrell said it was a "shame"
that so many of the partner countries' leaders had decided not to come to
the summit, instead sending lower-level delegations to
Barcelona.
"Their presence would have been very useful and would have
presented a stronger political commitment," he said, adding that "some
absences were justified, others less so."
Of the Mediterranean-rim partner states, only Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas and Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan led
highest-level delegations.
The Barcelona summit was meant to be the first time that
leaders of a group that includes Israelis and Palestinians as well as the
25 EU countries had met.
Previous meetings of the Euro-Mediterranean group have been
at foreign minister level.
That undermined the prestige of a meeting which EU leaders
wanted to extend cooperation across the Mediterranean to help combat
terrorism and illegal immigration.
