SUGGESTIONS,
The Committee on Constitutional Affairs calls on the Committee on Foreign Affairs as the committee responsible
to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution:
1. Calls for the experience gained in connection with the Barcelona Process to be used in order to inject
new energy and vitality into relations between the European Union and its Mediterranean partners, without disrupting
those relations;
2. Stresses the importance of maintaining coherent institutions and avoiding any duplication thereof,
and stresses that the Barcelona Process Union for the Mediterranean (BP UfM) should be included within the Union's
institutional framework; considers that setting up an autonomous institutional structure could only damage the
effectiveness of the process;
3. Supports the principle of co-presidency, on a basis of parity, equality and joint governance, and,
on the assumption that the Treaty of Lisbon will enter into force, considers that it should be consistent with
the resulting institutional framework regarding the external representation of the European Union; and that the
biannual summit, the Joint Permanent Committee and the meetings of senior officials are useful tools for injecting
greater efficiency and transparency into the Process;
4. Stresses the need for the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA) to be given an enhanced
role in the process and supports the EMPA Bureau, which in a statement issued on 12 July 2008 called for that Assembly
as a legitimate parliamentary body to become an integral part of the Barcelona Process Union for the Mediterranean
(BP UfM);
5. Supports the demands made by the President of the European Parliament, who called in his speech to
the Summit meeting in Paris on 13 July 2008 for the EMPA to be given the right to make proposals, to exercise democratic
control and to monitor and regularly assess the progress of projects;
6. Calls for the EMPA to be closely involved in preparations for the biannual summit meetings of Heads
of State and the annual meetings of the Foreign Ministers of the countries which are members of the Barcelona Process
Union for the Mediterranean (BP-UfM);
7. Considers it essential for the EMPA to be established as the parliamentary dimension of the Barcelona
Process - Union for the Mediterranean (BP-UfM) establishing for that case a legal basis as suggested by the EMPA
and considers:
- that the EMPA should meet at least once a year;
- that all members of the EMPA should be able to set up groups drawn up in accordance with political allegiances
(in addition to the current division into parliaments of Mediterranean partners-European Parliament-parliaments
of the Member States), which will lead to improved integration and effectiveness;
- that the EMPA should have more precise operational rules and a strengthened permanent secretariat;
- that it should be mandatory for the EMPA to be consulted for its opinion on the main points and projects relating
to the Barcelona Process Union for the Mediterranean (BP UfM);
- that the Council and Commission should be integrally associated with the work of the EMPA, both at the preparatory
stages and during official meetings and plenaries;
- that parliamentary representatives of countries which are not part of the Barcelona Process should be invited
to participate;
8. Considers that the secretariat of the Barcelona Process - Union for the Mediterranean (BP-UfM) should
be composed of officials seconded from the countries participating in the process and should be integrated into
the departments of the Commission; its seat must be selected according to criteria based on operational effectiveness
and to the host country's compliance with democratic values and financial capacity, as well as to the political,
financial and social support offered by the national, regional and local authorities concerned; therefore supports
the candidacy of Barcelona to host the secretariat;
9. Considers that the secretariat of the Barcelona Process - Union for the Mediterranean (BP-UfM) must
be tasked to draw up and manage projects as well as to coordinate the overall process; it shall report to the Euro-Mediterranean
Committee and to the EMPA;
10. Points out that the projects financed in the framework of the Barcelona Process - Union for the Mediterranean
(BP-UfM) should be supported mainly using Community funds, funds from partner states as well as private financing;
11. Stresses the need to establish a Euro Mediterranean Investment and Development Bank capable of attracting
direct foreign investment for the realisation of projects responding to the needs of the citizens in the region;
12. Calls for the drawing up of an institutional framework for the Barcelona Process - Union for the
Mediterranean (BP UfM) to be the subject of extensive consultation and far-reaching discussion involving all the
stake-holders involved in the process, in order to ensure that it is based on broad consensus and takes all sensitivities
into account;
13. Considers that in parallel with the enhancement of the parliamentary dimension, a similar development
is required in achieving the involvement of civil society within the appropriate institutional structure of the
Barcelona Process - Union for the Mediterranean (BP UfM);
14. Considers that promoting cooperation of that type can also play a positive role as regards the creation
and development of other similar regional unions.
RESULT OF FINAL VOTE IN COMMITTEE
Date adopted 20.10.2008
Result of final vote: +: 15
-: 0
0: 0
Members present for the final vote: Enrique Barón Crespo, Richard Corbett, Andrew Duff, Jo Leinen,
Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, Rihards Piks, Adrian Severin, József Szájer, Johannes
Voggenhuber, Andrzej Wielowieyski, Dushana Zdravkova
Substitute(s) present for the final vote: Costas Botopoulos, Elmar Brok, Carlos Carnero González,
Monica Frassoni.
