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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 - 31 May 2000 Issue No. 483 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 - 31 May 2000 Issue No. 483
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Madrid revisited
By Ibrahim Nafie
President Mubarak's visit to Spain, which begins on Monday, is significant for several reasons. Strikingly, it is nine years ago since the peace process began in the Spanish capital, Madrid. Spain, too, provided the venue for the Barcelona Declaration, which sought to enhance cross-Mediterranean economic cooperation.
Among the countries of the Northern shore of the Mediterranean there is undoubtedly a greater understanding of North Africa than among other European states, and nowhere is this more true than Spain. During his visit to Spain, President Mubarak will seek to address issues concerning cross-Mediterranean relations, particularly those areas in which long-term cooperation is necessary to fully realise mutual interests.
The current dialogue between Europe and the Middle East has its roots in the immediate aftermath of the October 1973 war: the oil crisis, and increased tensions between the US and Soviet Union occasioned by the conflict shocked Europe into a more constructive engagement with the region. This, though, was not to last long: subsequent divisions in the Arab world aborted the possibility of any collective dialogue, which was fragmented into separate channels, with the Maghreb and the countries of the Arabian Gulf being treated as individual groups.
Yet as members of the then European Common Market were moving towards ever greater integration, those states bordering the northern Mediterranean were at the same time discovering the complex web of interdependencies that linked them with North Africa. Spain played a prominent role in the process of reformulating relations, resisting the dominant policy thrust of non Mediterranean EU countries keen to restrict Arab-European relations to those areas in which they felt there was a direct impact on either the security or economic well-being of Europe.
This reformulation encompassed a far wider range of issues than simple military security, and one of its results was the Barcelona Declaration of November 1995, currently undergoing a process of review with the intention of expanding its scope across the economic, social, cultural, political and military fronts. This process is a reflection of the vision of Europe's Mediterranean states, rather than of the European Union as a whole.
What is currently being offered within the framework of this review, though, is less than the countries of the Middle East had hoped. The economic partnership aspects of the declaration give particular cause for concern and need to be broadened if they are to effectively serve the interests of North African states, and not discriminate in favour of Israel, a point alluded to by Amr Moussa when he criticised the EU for giving Israel preferential treatment in partnership agreements, according it privileges not granted to Arab states. This, obviously, is inimical to the building of trust on which EU countries insist, particularly while the peace process is in such a moribund state given Israel's constant lack of good faith.
The EU, in short, is confronting a situation which -- if progress is to be made -- necessitates that it must reformulate its long-standing insistence to treat Israel as a special case, an exception to the rules that are applied elsewhere. An urgent priority is for the EU to enter into partnership discussions with Arab states based on a clear analysis of wider security interests, an analysis that must be based on a full understanding of the conditions necessary to ensure stability on both sides of the Mediterranean.
If this reflects European sensitivity towards Israel, and towards America's foreign policy agenda in the Middle East, it also renders the European role ineffective, uncovering the limits of the restricted space in which the EU moves, which prevents it from approaching the region's essential problems or contributing to their resolution effectively from a Middle Eastern perspective. This is not to underestimate the value or importance of conflict prevention, but to emphasise the urgent necessity of resolving conflicts that already exist. The Arab-Israel conflict, after all, is the essential cause of all the tensions in the region and its resolution on all tracks is imperative if an ideal environment for all forms of regional cooperation -- including the implementation of an effective conflict prevention strategy -- is to emerge.
Initiatives aimed at refining security and stability around the Mediterranean tend to be treated with an undue timidity by European states -- including Egypt's repeated call that the area be made free of weapons of mass destruction. The eradication of weapons of mass destruction -- foremost among which are nuclear weapons -- is part of an international agenda that commands a wide-ranging consensus among the international community. The enormous efforts being made in the international arena, calling on states to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, is in danger of floundering on a single obstacle -- the refusal of Israel to become a signatory to this agreement, and America's willingness to underwrite such an Israeli refusal.
President Mubarak's visit to Spain will allow for the addressing once more of these legitimate concerns. It is to be fervently hoped that Spain, along with other European Mediterranean countries, will further pursue its role in attuning Europe's political and economic orientation towards the southern Mediterranean in a way that takes into account the actual conditions of southern Mediterranean states and the conflicts that exist there -- the Arab-Israeli conflict foremost among them -- as well as the distinctiveness and specificity of cultural and civilisational frameworks in the light of a much broader conception of southern Mediterranean states and peoples. And this, it must be said, is in addition to the requirements of development that are an inherent and indispensable component of continued stability across the region. The eventual realisation of such objectives, it is believed, will propel the Mediterranean-European partnership towards ever brighter horizons, and in such a way that respects and serves the aims and interests of countries joined by the Mediterranean.
These dimensions, I believe, are clearly embodied in President Mubarak's upcoming and very important visit to Spain which, it is hoped, will bear fruits not just for the Egyptian people, but for the Spanish people as well. It is also hoped that such initiatives will ultimately serve the interests of those countries that share the Mediterranean basin and which together witnessed the rise of ancient civilisations, the foundation of the common heritage shared by nations both north and south of the Mediterranean Sea.
