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The Civil Declaration of Barcelona
EURO MED CIVIL FORUM
Barcelona, 29 November –1 December 1995
The Forum Civil Euromed was held in Barcelona on
the 29th-30th of November and the 1st of December, 1995, following
the Euro-Mediterranean Conference convoked by the European Union.
It was attended by 1,112 social, economic and cultural representatives
from 38 countries covering the EU and the whole of the Mediterranean
and its area of influence.
The participants in the Forum Civil Euromed came from over a thousand
institutions, bodies, decentralised cooperation networks, associations,
centres with an interest in partnership, chambers of commerce, universities,
regions, cities, companies, non-governmental organisations and trade
and agricultural unions, as well as the UNESCO’s Mediterranean
programmes and the European Community’s Med programmes.
The Forum Civil Euromed began assessing the Euro-Mediterranean Conference
Declaration, highlighting that:
- The Declaration’s encouragement of greater participation
by the civil society in the Mediterranean countries was very positive
in that it favoured the protection of human rights and the consolidation
of democratic institutions.
- The Declaration did not pay sufficient attention to certain very
important issues such as the role of women and the migratory situation,
nor did it give proper coverage to some essential sectors such as
renewable energy or tourism.
- The financial framework set up by the European Union for the Mediterranean
is a step in the right direction, although there is some imprecision
regarding the access to it.
- The proposed free-trade area may well be beneficial, but the impact
of such a zone must first be evaluated.
The Forum Civil Euromed then went on to look at specific themes,
analysing the existing framework of action and putting forward new
proposals to improve efficiency. The result was a lengthy list of
over two hundred projects which provide the Euro-Mediterranean programme
with a healthy impetus in the short, medium and long-term.
A summary of the work undertaken by the eleven sectorial Forums
of the Forum Civil Euromed has already been presented by the various
Forums’ representatives. Nonetheless, all the conclusions
of the debates that took place were transmitted to the Generalitat
de Cataluña, this being the institution that convoked the
Forum and to the other sponsoring institutions: the Commission of
the European Union, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Spanish
government and UNESCO. This document will then be published at a
later date.
Finally, the Forum Civil Euromed is to become the institutionalised
platform for Euro-Mediterranean dialogue and cooperation. Its permanent
seat is to be Barcelona and it is to be managed by the Institut
Català de la Mediterrania d’Estudis i Cooperaci¢.
The FCE’s plenary meetings will, in the future, be held successively
in the different Mediterranean countries.
The Forum Civil Euromed will, through its existing study-groups,
elect an international committee that will handle the following
matters:
- The monitoring of all the resolutions of this first meeting in
Barcelona.
- The formalisation of its own structure.
- The preparations for the next plenary meeting, to be held preferably
in Spring 1997 in one of the Eastern or Southern Mediterranean Countries.
The Forum Civil Euromed highlights the necessary interdependence
of the economic, territorial and socio-cultural fields, while at
the same time insisting that the agreements reached by the different
States will have only a minimal effect unless a significant degree
of decentralised cooperation is attained. Only in this way will
the Euro-Mediterranean Conference produce practical and positive
results, improving the socio-economic fabric of the countries involved.
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