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10 years PEM |
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The European Union wishes to take advantage of the tenth anniversary of the Euro-Mediterranean Process to consolidate the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and reinvigorate it in accordance with the new situation being experienced by the EU and the Mediterranean 10 years after the Barcelona Conference. With this objective, the ministers of Foreign Affairs of Europe and of the Mediterranean partner countries, who met in The Hague on 29th and 30th November, decided to call an extraordinary conference, at the highest level possible, which will be held in Barcelona in November 2005. The decision was made on the initiative of the Spanish government and has the full support of the 35 countries of the Partnership. To underline its desire to reinvigorate Euro-Mediterranean relations, the EU also decided that 2005 should be the Mediterranean year.
Both decisions make clear the intention to open a new stage for the Barcelona Process that takes into account the evaluation of this decade and integrates the European Neighbour Policy into the structure and objectives of the Partnership for the next few years. The extraordinary conference, now known as Barcelona +10, will be prepared by Spain in close collaboration with the two countries which hold the presidency of the EU in 2005: the United Kingdom and Luxemburg. The calling of Barcelona +10 has been accompanied by a plea to civil society to actively participate in the debate on the 10 years of the Partnership and the new stage of Euro-Mediterranean relations. This means opening a participation process, also extraordinary, that allows a gauging of European and Mediterranean societies in terms of common challenges and the future of the Barcelona Process.
The Fondazione Laboratorio Mediterraneo – Maison de la Méditerranée is wholly committed to this process of social participation and to giving it, through its network for cultural and social dialogue – including ANSAMED Press Agency - the maximum visibility possible. To this end, the Foundation, together with Ansamed, has centred its programme of activities for 2005 on the 10 years of the Barcelona Process and on 2005 Year of the Mediterranean and has decided to open this website (www.euromed10.org) that will reflect all the news and opinions emerging during the preparation of this anniversary, both from the institutions and civil society.
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