Internal Document F Ces7853-2006 Doc-Int En

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EURO-MEDITERRANEAN SUMMIT
OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCILS
AND SIMILAR INSTITUTIONS

Ljubljana, 15-17 November 2006

FINAL DECLARATION

1.  The representatives of the Economic and Social Councils (ESCs) and similar institutions, together with the representatives of socio-occupational organisations in the Euro-Mediterranean partner countries which do not have an ESC or similar institution, meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 15, 16 and 17 November 2006, warmly thank the Economic and Social Council of the Republic of Slovenia for its hospitality and contribution to the success of the Summit. They wish to emphasise the importance of the fact that this is the first time since the most recent enlargement that the Euro-Mediterranean Summit of ESCs and Similar Institutions has been held in a new Member State of the European Union.

The participants:

On the Euromed partnership and European Neighbourhood Policy

2.  take note of the conclusions of the Euromed Summit of Heads of State in Barcelona in November 2005, particularly the provisions concerning the development of the role of civil society, and welcome the attendance of the President of the European Economic and Social Committee at the Summit as a strong endorsement of the work of the network of economic and social councils;

3.  are committed to launching initiatives in close cooperation with the European institutions and the governments of the partner countries, to increase awareness of the mechanisms of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and to encourage broader civil society involvement in implementing the partnership and the ENP. They intend, in this regard, to ensure regular follow-up at national level of the implementation of these policies, and to present the results of their work to the Euromed Summits of ESCs and similar institutions;

4.  undertake to continue and step up their working relations with the partnership's political authorities, the Euromed Parliamentary Assembly and the European Commission in order to ensure greater involvement of civil society at national and regional level;

5.  call for policies and objectives aimed at raising the profile of the partnership to be implemented in a more ambitious way; the ESCs and similar institutions state their willingness to contribute to this work.

On the role of civil society and the promotion of social dialogue

6.  undertake to work for the establishment of civil society consultative bodies in those partner countries which do not yet have one. The two priority countries for 2007 will be Jordan and Morocco;

7.  undertake, under the auspices of the European Commission, to step up their contacts and working relations with the social partners' networks, the UMCE, the Euromed Trade Union Forum, the other socio-occupational and civil society networks and the Anna Lindh Foundation;

8.  call upon the European Commission and the governments of the partner countries to ensure that civil society is more effectively consulted at both regional and national level, and to encourage the development of programmes aimed at capacity building for civil society organisations and structures for dialogue. In this connection, they welcome the support provided by the European Commission for continuing the TRESMED project. This project, managed by the Spanish Economic and Social Council, promotes the development of the consultative function throughout the region;

9.  call upon the partnership authorities to strengthen and promote social dialogue in the Mediterranean partner countries and to support ILO initiatives in this sphere. To this end, they propose that the forthcoming Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union (first half of 2008) organise a tripartite conference on the progress of social dialogue;

10.  welcome the Euro-Mediterranean conference on employment and social dialogue in the Euromed Region, to be held under the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union in March 2007, as they had requested at the last Summit.

On the situation in the Middle East

11.  condemn all forms of violence, terrorism and intolerance, and highlight the unacceptable suffering of the civilian population in the Middle East, including Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories. They call upon the international community to support reconstruction efforts in Lebanon in order to guarantee economic recovery and social harmony, and to take the necessary measures to improve living conditions in the Palestinian Territories;

12.  recall the urgent need to ensure respect for human dignity and, more specifically, to make combating poverty one of the partnership's political priorities;

13.  call upon the European Union, acting through the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the European Commission and the Member States, amongst others, to launch major initiatives to help achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the region.

On promoting gender equality

14.  welcome the conclusions adopted at the Istanbul Euromed Ministerial Conference on 14 and 15November 2006 on a stronger role for women in society and, in particular:

14.1 the determination to make the issue of women's political, social, economic and cultural rights a part of the dialogue being conducted under the association agreements and the European Neighbourhood Policy action plans, and in connection with European Union programmes and projects;

14.2 the acknowledgement of the need to strengthen dialogue and cooperation between governments and non-government actors in the Euromed region, and especially women's and young people's associations and socio-occupational organisations;

14.3 the willingness to promote the role and boost the capacity of civil society organisations, particularly women's organisations;

15.  are committed to facilitating the implementation of these recommendations, particularly promoting representation and involvement of women at all levels of responsibility in socio-occupational and other civil society organisations;

16.  are similarly committed to pressing forward with their work on promoting gender equality, a subject to which they will return at their next Summits, and ask to be able to make a direct contribution to the work of the relevant Euromed working group responsible for reviewing the implementation of the work programme adopted at the Istanbul Ministerial Conference.

On youth policies

17.  recall that a large proportion of the population in the partner countries is below the age of 25, representing an asset for national development but also a threat to stability when conditions prevent this large young population from fully and rapidly entering the economic and social life of their countries;

18.  call upon the Euromed authorities and the governments of the partner countries to give education and the economic and social integration of youth priority status;

19.  recommend that the EU and the partner countries work together still more closely in the fields of education and culture, by ensuring mutual recognition of qualifications and by facilitating a better understanding and greater tolerance of cultural and religious diversity, especially by means of exchanges between young people, promotion of youth media, and twinning activities;

20.  welcome the numerous initiatives in several partner countries to modernise and upgrade vocational training and higher education, together with the initiatives taken by the Anna Lindh Foundation concerning the Euromed schools, Euromed young researcher teams, summer universities and exchange programmes;

21.  reaffirm the importance of developing job creation for young people, inter alia by creating a climate conducive to greater foreign direct investment and encouraging young people to set up their own businesses at local level, by putting in place appropriate instruments such as microcredits;

22.  welcome the initiative and implementation of the MEDA Education and Training for Employment (ETE) project and the recent launch of a regional network for careers guidance in the 10 partner countries;

23.  also welcome the initiative under the same project to give specific support to unemployed young people in the areas of self-employment and the creation of micro-enterprises;

24.  request that representatives of civil society, in particular youth organisations, are consulted when youth policies and programmes are drawn up and implemented, in particular in the area of national action plans under the ENP;

25.  believe that renewed efforts should be made to raise awareness of the opportunities offered to young people under the ENP;

26.  emphasise that governments should support the development of the capacities of youth organisations in their respective countries, whilst taking care not to compromise the independence of such representative organisations.

On combating poverty in Euro-Mediterranean countries

27.  note that poverty is a global scourge that affects every region of the world, including the most developed regions, but in varying degrees and in different forms;

28.  emphasise that the aims of combating poverty must fit in with the perspective opened up by the Millennium Development Goals adopted by the United Nations for the period 2000-2015;

29.  note that peace is an essential prerequisite for combating poverty;

30.  also note that the phenomenon of poverty and social exclusion exists in EU countries just as it does in other Euro-Mediterranean countries;

31.  emphasise that the concept of development must not be limited to economic growth alone, but must be extended to include social, environmental and human considerations, and to take account of redistributive aspects in order to ensure respect of human rights for all;

32.  recognise the efforts made in each country to combat the scourge of poverty;

33.  note that in the Mediterranean partner countries poverty hits rural areas, women and the unemployed especially hard. They also observe the appearance of pockets of acute poverty in urban areas and the emergence of new forms of poverty – the "working poor". They urge the Mediterranean partner countries to seek new resources to finance the World Solidarity Fund for Poverty Eradication;

34.  finally, observe the emergence of a phenomenon of extreme poverty which is, for those affected, an attack on their human dignity;

35.  also note the negative effects of the problem of debt and the trade deficit vis-à-vis the European Union on the economic development of the countries of the southern Mediterranean;

36.  call for the Euromed partnership to be relaunched, focusing on the goal of combating poverty, especially among the most vulnerable groups in society;

37.  call, in this context, for the Euromed partnership to adopt a comprehensive and integrated approach to combating poverty. This approach should be based on a certain number of stated general objectives, with implementation being a matter for each member country in the partnership, based on the open method of coordination;

38.  press for policies aimed at securing decent work for all to be put in place;

39.  call for the development of social protection systems based on solidarity and accessible to all, providing basic guarantees in the area of health and protection of the most vulnerable, in particular women, elderly people, people with disabilities and children;

40.  call for education and lifelong learning measures to be adopted so as to avoid the transmission of poverty from generation to generation;

41.  emphasise that the efficacy of the fight against poverty depends in large measure on respect for good governance, inter alia the fight against corruption and thus the effective functioning of public authorities and their harmonious cooperation with the social partners and other representatives of civil society, and on the real involvement of those directly suffering extreme poverty;

42.  emphasise that civil society, in particular ESCs and similar institutions, must be involved in drafting and implementing strategies to combat poverty.

On competitiveness and social cohesion in an integrated Euro-Mediterranean area[1]

43.  believe that complementarity between competitiveness and social cohesion should be harnessed in the various policies and initiatives implemented within the framework of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation, which has been strengthened following the signature of the agreement on the new Community action programme for the 2005-2010 period;

44.  with a view to enhancing the region's competitiveness and social cohesion, call upon the Mediterranean partner countries to continue the efforts they have made over recent years regarding public sector management and strengthening the rule of law and respect for fundamental rights, to carry forward measures improving governance, such as transparency and efficiency of public administration, combating corruption or reinforcing democratic institutions, and to press ahead with the development of the private sector and entrepreneurship, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises, micro-businesses and the social economy;

45.  are convinced that for migration in the Euro-Mediterranean region to provide an opportunity which can benefit both sides, migration policies should take a more vigorous approach to managing temporary and permanent migration flows, to combating the causes of immigration and emigration organised by people-trafficking networks, to integrating immigrants, refugees and their families into society and work, and to setting up joint mechanisms to make it easier for remittances to have a positive impact on the development of the countries to which they are sent.

46.  propose that the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in the second half of 2007, make the organisation of a conference on migration and development a part of its work programme;

On the 2006-2007 work programme

47.  accept the offer by the Economic and Social Council of Greece for the next Summit, in 2007, to be held in Greece. The follow-up committee for the period 2006-2007 will be made up of the ESCs of Slovenia and Greece, the European Economic and Social Committee and, with a view to ensuring geographical balance, the Algerian CNES. The follow-up committee will, with representatives of Moroccan organised civil society, examine the possibility of holding the 2008 Summit in Morocco;

48.  decide that the themes of reports to be debated at the 2007 Summit will be as follows:

a)  Civil society participation at local level in implementing the European Neighbourhood Policy action plans with a view to balanced and sustainable development. This report will be drafted under the direction of the European Economic and Social Committee in cooperation with the Economic and Social Council of Greece, the Economic and Social Council of France, the Economic and Social Committee of Israel, the Economic and Social Council of Tunisia and the Palestinian Economic and Social Council;

b)  competitiveness and social cohesion as factors in building an integrated Euro-Mediterranean area. This report will be drafted under the direction of the Economic and Social Council of Spain, in cooperation with the Italian National Economic and Labour Council, the National Economic and Social Council of Algeria, the Economic and Social Council of Tunisia, the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development, the Economic and Social Council of Greece and representatives of Turkish economic and social interest groups;