15 September 2010
Parent Category: Attività (EN) -
Category: Union for the Mediterranean
To implement its policies concerning the Euro-Mediterranean region, the European Union has set up a series of tools and programs: the Euro-Mediterranean partnership and the Meda program; the ECIP program for small and medium-sized enterprises; the "Meda-Democrazia" program aimed at promoting human rights; the Life-Third Countries program; etc.
The Euro-Mediterranean partnership was first defined in the Declaration of Barcelona, adopted on November 28th 1995 by the 15 Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the European Union and by the Foreign Ministers of the 12 Mediterranean Partner Countries beneficiaries of the Meda program: Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Gaza and Cis-Jordan territories. Its contents were confirmed and strengthened by the Second Ministerial Conference which took place in Malta on last April 15th-16th. It is a political agreement between the European Union and the Countries of the Mediterranean Basin, aimed at addressing southward the relationships that the Union has been developing with Eastern Europe Countries since 1989.
The Euro-Mediterranean partnership is based on three different fields of action: politics and security, economy and finance, society and culture. Therefore it includes several initiatives, which cover several sectors. Among the main ones: re-approaching of sectorial economic policies, which is a process specially active in industry, telecommunication, energy and water sectors; Euro-Mediterranean cooperation networks aimed at supporting knowledge exchange (industrial federations, economic institutes, chambers of commerce, banks, etc.); cooperation in the statistic field; cooperation in civil society (universities, professional associations, non-governmental bodies); the cultural heritage whose purpose is recognizing mutual traditions and developing the cultural dialogue; the effort in building an area of peace and stability by identifying a number of principles to be respected and of aims to be achieved.
The partnership has been provided with important economic resources in order to perform its actions. Such resources were established by the European Council in Cannes in June 1995, and they are in force until the year 1999. They include non-repayable aids from the Union's budget (4,685 millions ECUs), and a similar amount consisting of loans granted by the European Investment Bank. Most of non-repayable aids are granted by the MEDA program. These aids are managed by the European Commission together with the MED Committee, which is made up of representatives from the member Countries and presided over by a representative from the Commission itself. The MEDA program is mainly aimed at encouraging and supporting social and economic reforms in the Mediterranean partner countries, through two channels: 1) bilateral actions, which use about 90% of the total amount and are started by the association agreements between the European Union and each beneficiary country; 2) regional initiatives, including decentralized cooperation that is being re-launched, which involve several North and South Mediterranean Countries.
Bilateral actions are based on national programs defining the priority sectors to be supported on the basis of the guidelines, identifying, at the same time, the estimated amounts for each sector. The main sectors are: economic transition support, through structural reorganization and development programs in the private sector; social and economic balance consolidation; development of the Civil Society.
The regional initiatives include thematic meetings, conferences and programs, involving both the Mediterranean partners and the European Countries. All this makes clear that the financial effort related to the MEDA program is not essentially aimed at granting a direct funding to enterprises or companies. On the contrary it is aimed at preparing the conditions required in order to allow their development and work. As for proposals concerning possible projects, they have to be accepted by the authorities of the beneficiary countries and based on the above mentioned guidelines in order to be considered by the European Commission.
The aim of ECIP (European Community Investment Partners) program consists in promoting the institution or the development of "joint-ventures" among small and medium-sized companies from the Mediterranean, Latin American, Asian and South African Countries. The ECIP program provides 4 types of financial facilities.
“Meda-Democrazia” is a cooperation program aimed at promoting human rights and democracy development in the Mediterranean partner countries. Created at the initiative of the European Parliament in 1996, the program grants aids to no-profit associations, Universities, Research Centres and public Bodies in order to realize projects aimed at promoting democracy, freedom of expression and association, and safeguarding specific groups, such as women, young people and minorities. The granted funds for this kind of projects can total a maximum of 80%.
The purpose of LIFE-Third Countries consists in starting technical assistance measures and pilot actions in Third Countries (in the Mediterranean area, besides the “MEDA Countries”, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia), in the following sectors: technical assistance to set up the required administrative structures aimed at developing environmental policies and action programs; environmental safeguard and recovery of important habitats for flora and fauna at risk; pilot actions designed to promote sustainable development. The total budget for the period 1996-1999 amounts to 36 MECUs. Maximum 50% of each project submitted by public administrations, NGOs, individual or juridical persons from the beneficiary countries, can be financed.
The lines of the European Union’s budget established for NGOs in the sectors of direct aid, food aid, humanitarian aid, human rights and decentralized cooperation, etc., can also be applied to the Mediterranean Partner Countries.
In general, the partnership system is aimed at improving the efficiency and competitiveness of the Italian enterprises in the international context, performing a function of operational linking and strategic guidance. In the concrete, all this can be accomplished by performing actions of assistance, which are started at a Government "policy advice" level in the planning stage and then fulfilled in identifying, through Embassies and ICE branches abroad, and circulating international cooperation projects (technical assistance, industrial and commercial cooperation, technology transfer, etc.) financed by a variety of players/institutions (European Union, Bers, EIB, World Bank and so on).
The targeted involvement of enterprises proceeds with actual supporting initiatives during the successive tendering steps. Information received by the Schemes is treated and circulated through three databases: the international cooperation initiative database, the enterprise database and the expert database.
The First Forum of Ideas and Prototypes took place in Benevento from the 29th of April to the 3rd of May. The event was promoted by Futuridea and Asi.
