Transcript Diapositiva 1

MEDITERRANEAN CITIZENS’
ASSEMBLY
TOWARDS A MEDITERRANEAN COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE
OUR SEA
MARE NOSTRUM
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An area of approximately 2,5 millions km2
3860 km long
The largest inland sea in the world
22 countries representing more than 450 millions people
150 millions people live on its shores
Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina,
Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel,
the Gaza strip of Palestine, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria,
Morocco, the islands of Malta and Cyprus
MARE NOSTRUM
• Its history, past and present, is shaped by three
great religions, cultures and social organizations:
Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
• Today the Mediterraneann is a political, social and
cultural mosaic where we find:
1. A high level of socioeconomic inequalities between the
North and the South but also within the South
2. High level of pollution and hydrocarbon
MEDITERRANEAN INSTITUTIONS
• The Mediterranean partnership launched in
1995 and known as the Barcelona Process
has evolved in July 2008
• Birth of the Union for the Mediterranean
which claims to be a stable institutional
framework for Euro-Mediterranean
cooperation
Some Mediterranean Realities
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The deadlock of the peace process in the Middle East
Political stalemate in the South
Upsurge of the Islamist fundamentalism
War on Terror: wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
Crisis provoked by globalization:
- Economic and social crisis
- Widening economic and social gap between northern
southern shores
• Presence of other powers which seek to expand their
influence (USA, China)
Existing Institutions
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Anna Lindh Foundation
Euromediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA)
Union for the MEditerranean (UfM)
Euromed Plateform
Instituto Europeo del Mediterráneo (IEMed)
Casa Mediterráneo (España)
Centre International des Hautes Etudes Agronomiques
Mediterranéenne (CIHEAM)
• Euro Mediterranean Study Commission (EuroMeSCo)
• Euromed Trade Union Forum
• The Euro-Mediterranean Assembly of Local and Regional
Authorities (ARLEM)
Existing Institutions (2)
• Association of Organisations of Mediterranean
Businesswomen(AFAEMME)
• Association of the Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce
and Industry (ASCAME)
• Mediterranean Women’s Forum
• Réseau Euro-Méditerranéen de l’Economie Sociale(ESMED).
• Forum Euro-méditerranéenan des Instituts de Sciences
Economiques (FEMISE)
• Euro Mediterranean Human Rights Networks(EMHRN)
• Permanent Conference of the Mediterranean Audiovisual
Operators (CoPeAm)
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Mediterranean Citizens’ Assembly
(MCA)
• Since 2008, a group of Mediterranean citizens have
committed to work towards the emergence of a
Mediterranean community of peoples.
• The process is founded on the democratic values of freedom,
peace, respect for cultural diversity and environmental
responsibility.
• It aims to favour the emergence of a common voice and a
common citizens’ action, thanks to permanent
communication using innovative tools and methods.
MCA’s Main Ideas
• Although the Mediterranean lacks unity as a region on the
political level, it is de facto a region in the historical, human,
commercial, cultural, social and environmental sense.
• Cyclic tensions can occurs between regions characterized by
inequities and different religious and cultural traditions.
• relations between the countries in the region are developed
to different degrees and are more often bilateral than
multilateral.
A Mediterranean Community of People
Requires to:
• Work towards a shared and concerted governance, adapted
to the Mediterranean region.
• Strive to break the isolation of countries that are still too
confined within their national boundaries, or excluded for
economic and political reasons – particularly in the South
and East of the Mediterranean.
OBJECTIVES OF THE MCA
• Contribute to building a sustainable Mediterranean area of
peace, development, solidarity and shared prosperity
between its peoples.
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to promote the involvement of citizens within a new
political, economic and social structure for the
Mediterranean basin.
• Take part in the emergence of a new governance, truly based
on dialogue and sharing, in the Mediterranean area.
OBJECTIVES OF THE MCA (2)
• Act in favour of economic and political integration at the
regional level, thus enabling certain populations to break
away from their confinement.
• Work towards overcoming mutual fears to give a sense of
human, political, cultural, environmental and economic
unity to a community of Mediterranean peoples once again.
• Help communities communicate with each other.
The MCA : A place for dialogue
• The Mediterranean Citizen’s Assembly is conceived as a
place of permanent communication between communities
of the Mediterranean basin, including all the elements that
compose them.
• This is a long-term process that gathers different actors of
society – citizens’ movements, public or private institutions,
firms, associations, trade unions, experts, universities,
research centers, etc
The MCA:
A pluralist and humanist vision
• The MCA is part of a progressist and humanist vision of the
historical evolution of the Mediterranean as a whole, and of
the entire world.
• The MCA is pluralist through the identity and nature of the
actors invited to participate in the dialogue, as well as
through the philosophical, political or religious currents they
represent.
• The MCA favours an ethics of diversity and unity.
MCA ORGANISATION
• The Mediterranean Coordination is composed by non-profit
organizations from the civil society.
• The Advisory Council is formed by volunteers from the
Mediterranean region. Its main responsability is the
promotion of the process.
• The Citizens’ Circles are designed as places of local and open
dialogue between citizens
The Mediterranean Coordination
• The Mediterranean Coordination is currently composed by:
1. the Centro de Estudios Rurales y de Agricultura
International (CERAI, Spain),
2. The European University of Tirana (Albania)
3. The European Movement International, based in
Brussels.
• The Coordination is being expanded with regional centers in
Morocco, Egypt and Turkey.
The Citizens’ Circles
• This initiative also aims to promote and create Local
Mediterranean Citizens’ Circles in the different countries of
the region.
• Conceived as open and permanent places for dialogue
between citizens, they exchange ideas (through workshops,
round table discussions), and collectively elaborate and assess
proposals aiming to contribute to the emergence of new
economic, social, cultural and environmental policies.
The Citizens’Circles (2)
• All citizens can take part in these Circles on the condition
that they agree with the principles of the Founding Charter
and commit to abide by them.
• Currently there are circles in Thessaly (Greece), Tirana
(Albania), Montenegro, in Valencia (Spain) and Casablanca
(Morocco).
• New circles are being created in Rome (Italy), Paris (France)
and in Croatia.
The First Mediterranean Citizens’ Assembly
• The First Mediterranean Citizens’ Assembly
on « institutions and citizenship in the
Mediterranean » was held in Valencia, Spain,
from 2 to 4 July 2010.
• Over 100 people from 18 Mediterranean
countries participated in this first Assembly.
The First Mediterranean Citizens’ Assembly
in Valencia
• Members of the Mediterranean Citizens’ Circles of
Thessaly, Tirana, Valencia, Podgorica and
Casablanca participated.
• Were also present representatives of all the EuroMediterranean public institutions:
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Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean.
EuroMed Parliamentary Assembly.
Anna Lindh Foundation.
European Economic and Social Committee.
European Commission.
European Investment Bank
First Assembly in Valencia: questions
raised
• The citizens present discussed the following
themes:
– The Mediterranean area.
– Citizenship in the Mediterranean, rights and
responsibilities.
– Current and future challenges in the
Mediterranean: individual and collective
responsibilities of the citizens.
– The construction of a sustainable area of peace:
are there preconditionalities?
Answers to discussions of the
Assembly
• Enable the emergence of a Peoples’ Mediterranean
Community, anchored in a Mediterranean political area and
Mediterranean citizenship.
• Require active policies against unemployment, particularly
amongst the youngest layers of the population, as well as
policies of integration for women.
• Promote mobility, especially in the case of young people.
• Promote education, based on new and crossed insights.
• Protect and preserve the Mediterranean sea as a resource and
heritage.
The MCA and its future
• Consolidation of the dynamic and
representativeness of the MCA through:
– The creation of new circles all around the
Mediterranean and greater mobilisation of
existing circles.
– Enlargement of the Coordination towards new
regional centres.
• Discussions on the political, economic, social, and
environmental issues of the Mediterranean.
The next Assembly in 2011
• The main question will be carried through in 2011:
institutions and citizenship in the Mediterranean
through the eyes of African citizens and institutions.
• Euro-Mediterranean institutions, public African,
Arab, Islamic, as well as academic, social and civil
institutions with a Mediterranean dimension, and
yourself, are invited to this Assembly, which will be
organised in a country of the Southern shore of the
Mediterranean in the second half of 2011.
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