European Liberals in Barcelona seek a “real Marshall Plan” for North African countries

Barcelona (ACN).- The European Liberals have proposed a “real Marshall Plan” for North African and Middle Eastern countries, at an international summit held in Barcelona on Thursday March 29^th and Friday March 30^th. Within the framework of the Union for the Mediterranean, which has its Secretariat’s headquarters based in Catalonia’s capital, the Liberal Group of the European Parliament (ALDE) organised a meeting to discuss the Arab Spring. The President of the European Liberals, the former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, urged the international community to immediately act in Syria, assisting the opposition to Bashar al-Assad’s regime and creating a peacekeeping force. In addition he also asked to strengthen the Mediterranean policies of the European Union. The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, asked the European Union “not to turn its back on emerging democracies in the southern Mediterranean”. Mas, who is also the leader of the Catalan Liberal Party (CDC), stressed the importance of creating jobs in the region, which is “a real priority of all the initiatives in the region, as jobs are a source of stability and growth”. Besides, the Catalan President also proposed to channel all EU funds for the area through the Union for the Mediterranean. He spoke of the strategic importance of the Mediterranean region, which “if economically integrated, could become the largest and most dynamic market in the world, able to compete with emerging markets” with “800 million consumers”.  

Immediate action in Syria

At the international summit held in Barcelona on Friday, at the Union for the Mediterranean Secretariat, the ALDE President, Guy Verhofstadt urged the international community to immediately act to stop the casualties in Syria. Verhofstadt stressed that a political solution to the conflict “is very difficult because of Bashar al-Assad’s attitude”; therefore forceful action is needed. According to him it could include the following three possibilities: creating a peacekeeping force mainly formed by soldiers from Arab countries; creating humanitarian corridors and safe zones near the border with Turkey and Jordan; and, “providing all assistance that the Free Syrian Army needs today”.  

A “true Marshall Plan” for the southern Mediterranean region

Verhofstadt emphasised the need to create a “true Marshall Plan for North Africa and the Middle East”, funded by the European Union, with the objective of supporting the new democracies and to set a new regional cooperation framework. The former Belgian Prime Minister asked the EU to work on a new Neighbouring Policy, strengthening cooperation with southern Mediterranean countries.

The President of the Catalan Government asked the EU “not to turn its back on emerging democracies in the southern Mediterranean”. He stressed the need to tighten “all economic and social links” for the civil society organisations of those countries so that they “do not feel alone”. Mas regretted that “the EU has traditionally dealt with the Mediterranean with a certain distance, and a sort of coldness. And what we are trying to do -and the Liberal Democrats are really helping us- is that Europe becomes aware of the decisive importance the Mediterranean game has for the entire EU”, not only for the countries near the Mediterranean but for the entire EU, he emphasised. He asked the European Liberals to assist the moderate Islamic parties that have won the elections in countries such as Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt.

Jobs, the first priority

The Catalan President set the creation of jobs as their main priority. Mas said that there are 20 million people from North Africa and the Middle East who live outside their home countries. Catalonia has great experience with this reality, since 25% of Moroccan migrants living in Spain live in Catalonia. Mas referred to the “brain drain” that emigration represents for southern countries, and the challenges that represents in northern countries. He praised the creation of jobs as “a source of stability and growth” for the Mediterranean region.

Artur Mas also vindicated Barcelona’s role in the Mediterranean. “Barcelona is to the Mediterranean what Brussels is to Europe”. He asked the European Union to channel all its funds for the region to the Union for the Mediterranean, which has its permanent Secretariat in the Catalan capital. Mas stressed the potential capacity that the Mediterranean region has, “with 800 million consumers”. “If economically integrated, it could become the largest and most dynamic market in the world, able to compete with emerging markets”. For this reason he asked the EU to strengthen Mediterranean policy and involve all EU countries.

The challenge to create 40 million jobs in 15 years

The new Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean (UpM), Fathallah Sijilmassi, was satisfied to hear that there was “unanimity” to change the UpM’s methodology. He said that this unanimity was “both in the North and the South”. The international summit was the second meeting Sijilmassi had attended since he took office two months ago. The UpM Secretary General reminded that in the South Mediterranean there are 80 million youngsters. In the next 15 years, the region will have the great challenge of creating 40 million new jobs.