| TOWARDS A REAL INVOLVEMENT OF CIVIL SOCIETY
FINAL DECLARATION OF THE
EUROMED CIVIL FORUM
Luxembourg , 1-3 April 2005
In the context of the tenth anniversary of the Barcelona Process,
the Luxembourg Euromed Civil Forum gathered 350 civil society representatives
from 42 countries from 1 to 3 April 2005.
In a region which has seen profound geopolitical upheavals for
the last four years, it is urgent that we as forces of civil society
contribute through our analyses and recommendations to the strengthening
of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership - the assessment of which
calls for a revival and a restructuring of this Partnership at the
political, economic, social, cultural and environmental levels.
This is why we have chosen to concentrate on the issues and proposals
which appeared as priority during the local consultations when preparing
our work in January and February 2005. We did not seek to add our
own evaluation to the numerous assessments of the Process, which
have already been elaborated. As a matter of fact, our evaluation
would have expressed profound skepticism as to the real results
of the Partnership in terms of progress in the areas of democratization,
human rights, peace, development and the protection of the environment
in the region.
However, we believe that even though the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership
from now on relies largely on the European Union New Neighbourhood
Policies and its bilateral action plans, the Partnership does not
become any less of an indispensable multilateral framework. It must
continue to work on political solutions to the flagrant contradictions
of our time and to reduce the inequalities that remain in the exchanges
between the Mediterranean countries.
This is why it is no longer acceptible to disregard the values
that we defend, the concerns that are ours and the proposals which
we bring.
It is precisely this common will to « contribute »
and to « participate » which has emerged from the local
consultations. It has resulted in our main proposal on permanent
consultation mechanisms with civil society, which should be established
as of now both in the context of the Partnership and the New Neighbourhood
Policies.
In this context we sincerely welcome the constitution of the Non
Governmental Euromed Platform on the occasion its General Assembly
on 1 April. We claim its role, with all its constituting elements,
as an integral part of the mechanisms that we propose.
Consequently, we invite the Heads of State and Government of the
thirty-five Partnership member states to adopt an action plan to
establish permanent consultation mechanisms.
At the same time we invite them to take the proposals and recommendations
resulting from our work into consideration. The recommendations
concentrate on the necessity of at last reducing the gap between
the stated intentions and the implemented politicies whether concerning
human rights, equality between men and women, migrants’ and
asylum seekers’ rights, respect for international law in the
solution of occupations and conflicts, employment policies, the
fight against poverty and AIDS, sustainable development, environment
or cultural diversity.
We expect the member countries and the partnership institutions
to engage themselves in an efficient implementation of the entirety
of these recommendations.
Luxembourg, 3 April 2005
Annex I to the Final Declaration of the
Euromed civil Forum of Luxembourg
I. Mechanisms for consultation
The participants of the Euromed Civil Forum in Luxembourg welcomed
the conclusions of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Dublin,
May 2004, recognising the role of the EuroMed NGO Platform in organising
the Civil Forums.
They welcomed the Paper of the EuroMed NGO Platform on Proposals
for the creation of a permanent consultation mechanism between civil
society and public authorities in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership
prepared for the Civil Forum.
They noted that the Barcelona Declaration recognises the important
role of civil society for the development of the Partnership but
that no instruments for consultation between the officials of the
Partnership and civil society have been established until this day.
Participants believe that the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership must
have a coherent and consistent approach to the active involvement
of civil society in all three baskets of the Barcelona Declaration.
They therefore propose that the European and the Barcelona Process
institutions draw-up an action plan for permanent consultation in
close cooperation with civil society representatives and present
this plan at the planned Barcelona +10 meeting of the Head of States
in November 2005.
The Plan should aim at strengthening civil society participation
in the Barcelona process, making it a fully-fledged partner, and
also contribute to developing the multilateral level of the process
and the Action plans of the New Neighbourhood Policy. This entails:
· Allowing actual, timely and transparent access to relevant
information and documentation for civil society stakeholders, and
the negotiation of formal access to relevant information within
the EMP.
· ensuring the possibility for civil society to express its
positions and proposals at all relevant stages of operation: programming,
implementation and evaluation.
· ensuring integration of the expertise of civil society
stakeholders in policy planning.
This also entails
· a coherent and consistent approach to lifting legal and
practical restrictions to civil society participation in the Barcelona
process, as concerns freedom of association, assembly and expression
and the freedom of movement.
· developing flexible, transparent, accessible and relevant
instruments for financial support to civil society activities.
The Civil Forum participants suggest developing instruments for
carrying out consultation at the following levels:
1. Multilateral level:
· Regular exchanges with the European Commission and the
Euromed Committee.
· Setting up of thematic working parties (human rights, environment,
culture, migration, youth, women, development) gathering civil society
and EMP officials meeting at least twice a year.
· Participation of civil society representatives in formal
and informal working groups preparing Ministerial Summits, Euromed
Committee meetings and sector-based Ministerial meetings; and participation
as observers in the official events.
· An Annual Forum to discuss and consult with the Ambassadors
responsible for the Partnership, EU institution delegates and civil
society stakeholders.
· Regular meetings with the relevant committees, sub-committees
and groups of the European Parliament
2. Bilateral level:
· Setting up of thematic working parties to meet at least
twice a year
· Regular follow-up and evaluation meetings of the bi-lateral
association agreements and ‘Neighbourhood Action Plans’;
civil society should have full access and participation in the thematic
sub-committees under the association agreements.
· In close relation with the specific EU Delegation, annual
consultation in each country on the bi-lateral association agreements
and the Action Plans within the framework of the New Neighbourhood
Policy
· In this process access to information and documents should
be guaranteed at all national and regional levels
3. Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly
· Involvement in the activities of the Parliamentary Assembly
and its thematic committees and attendance of civil society observers
at the EMPA meetings.
It is essential to underline that participants in the consultation
mechanisms should be representative of civil society and be independent
of State and government interest . The Civil Forum recommends that
the Euromed Non-Governmental Platform, its regional, sub-regional
and local networks, become a main interlocutor of the Euro-Mediterranean
Partnership.
Luxembourg, the 3rd of April 2005
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