EU: A mass stay-away by Arab leaders from the first Euro-Mediterranean summit yesterday highlighted the difficulties of strengthening the European Union's decade-old partnership with its southern neighbours.
The EU called the summit hoping to revitalise ties with near Eastern and north African neighbours and extend co-operation to fighting terrorism and illegal migration, as well as promoting economic and political reforms.
While all 25 EU leaders were set to attend, however, only two of the 10 Mediterranean partners - Turkey and the Palestinian Authority - were sending their top leaders to the two-day conference, beginning yesterday evening.
Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, the longest-serving Arab leader, dropped out on Saturday, citing Egypt's tense parliamentary election, in which opposition candidates close to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood made big gains.
Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika was flown to hospital in Paris on Saturday for urgent medical tests following problems in his digestive system, his office said, forcing him to miss the summit originally intended to bring together Arab, Israeli and European leaders for the first time.
Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon pulled out after his coalition collapsed. Deputy prime minister Ehud Olmert will attend instead.
Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos noted that most partners were sending their prime ministers, underlining their attachment to the Euro-Mediterranean trade, aid and dialogue partnership. However an Arab diplomat said some leaders, such as Tunisian president Zine Abidine Ben Ali, had clearly preferred to stay away rather than be lectured by the Europeans on democracy, human rights and freedom of expression.
Tunisia was widely criticised by human rights watchdogs for its repressive handling of the media, dissidents and non-governmental organisations during a UN world summit on information society in Tunis this month.
The presidents of Syria and Lebanon were persuaded to stay away because they are in diplomatic quarantine over the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. A UN investigation concluded that senior Syrian and Lebanese officials were involved in the February 14th Beirut bombing.
Last-minute negotiations continued over a code of conduct in the fight against terrorism and a common vision statement, with familiar differences emerging over the definition of terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict holding up agreement.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana was optimistic that differences could be resolved in time for the documents to be issued today, along with a five-year work programme.
The summit is set to reaffirm the incomplete goal of creating a Euro-Mediterranean free trade zone by 2010, first set at the founding Barcelona conference in 1995. The EU has agreed to open talks on trade in agriculture and services next year after opening its markets to industrial goods from the south.
The Europeans will maintain an annual €1 billion in grants and €2 billion in loans to the Mediterranean countries but plan to focus the aid more on states that make political and economic reforms through a new "governance facility".