29 November 2005

The European Union salvaged a face-saving agreement with Israel and its Arab neighbors on Monday on a joint code of conduct to fight terrorism, at the end of a lackluster summit. The 35 nations adopted a five-year work program extending a decade-old economic, political and cultural partnership into sensitive areas of security and combating illegal migration.

But the first Euro-Mediterranean summit failed to agree on a common vision statement because of differences over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that proved as intractable as at the first ministerial conference in 1995.

After two days of wrangling, leaders abandoned attempts to agree to a common definition of terrorism, kicking the issue back to the United Nations, but condemned it "without qualification" and vowed to step up cooperation to fight it.

"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, who co-chaired the two-day summit, told a news conference. None of the 10 Mediterranean partners was on the platform.

The final compromise omitted both the European Union's insistence that self-determination could not be used to justify terrorism and Arab demands to include a right to resist foreign occupation.

In their two-page anti-terrorism code, the Euro-Mediterranean partners said terrorism was a "global challenge" requiring international cooperation to stop the acts of terrorists and disrupt their networks.

French President Jacques Chirac said the EU rallied Israel and its neighbors around such a declaration "because they too are the victim of terrorism."

Officials said one practical effect of the code's adoption will be more law enforcement cooperation across the Euro-Mediterranean area.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa told Reuters the outcome was "very positive."

The fact most Arab leaders stayed home was due to domestic concerns or ill health and "was not meant to be directed against Spain or against Europe," he said.

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa spelled out the position of most Arab states on terrorism, unwilling to condemn resistance against Israeli occupation."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," he told the summit.

The code commits the EU, Israel and its neighbors, among other things, to "preventing terrorists from accessing money and weapons, to disrupting their plans and disrupting their networks and to bringing them to justice by strengthening international cooperation."

It adds that the response to terrorism must be "proportionate and solidly anchored within international and domestic legal frameworks that ensure respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms."

While there was no formal "common vision" declaration on future relations, Blair summarized its content. He said the EU will stick with plans to link aid programs to progress Arab nations make in economic and political reforms and shed their authoritarian ways.

The work program also reaffirmed the unfinished aim of creating a free-trade area by 2010 and committed the EU to progressively open its markets to agricultural produce and services from Mediterranean countries as well as industrial goods.

Blair noted that it committed partners to extending political pluralism and women's rights, and to holding free and fair elections.

Spain has lobbied for a greater EU commitment to North Africa with leaders signing an agreement on how to manage illegal immigration.

"The Euro-Mediterranean partnership will enhance cooperation ... to reduce significantly the level of illegal migration, trafficking in human beings and loss of life through hazardous sea and border crossings," the leaders said.

European Parliament chief Josep Borrell warned bluntly of a major social and cultural clash if the underlying inequality fueling immigration flows was not dealt with.

In one specific initiative to ease the wealth gap, the Barcelona summit saw the creation of a 45 million-euro risk capital investment fund for Maghreb-region firms. - Agencies