A policy far from walls and stones

Images of walls and blocks separating different parts of our world obstruct the efforts of the European partnership aiming at peace and prosperity. The European Neighborhood Policy calls today for a cooperation where different populations are well integrated. A visionary point of view… 

Certain images belong to the European collective unconscious: 1989, the collapse of the wall of Berlin amidst a heterogeneous crowd. The anger with which the young Germans were demolishing this block of shame, shows to the entire world how eager they were for freedom and how firm they stood in their position to open up to the world. 

2003 is another image, when the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces in Cyprus raised a rusted barrier between the south and the north of Cyprus after 29 years of complete separation. Other images also belong to the collective unconscious of the Middle East, such as the unforgettable construction of a wall separating Israel from the Palestinian territories. 

Simultaneously, the above mentioned facts call into an important question: does the European experience look banal to an extent that dialogue between partners is limited to a bunch of stones, some of which are used for building walls and some others to be thrown on each others? 

Europe is not a policeman, but…
Such actions paralyzed the partnership previously aiming at building a zone of peace, prosperity and stability. The process suddenly shifted from its main goal and was limited to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while Europe was held responsible and originally guilty of not being capable of restraining its partners who remained uncooperative. These partners will remain deceived and Europe does not intend to become a judge or policeman. Violence has never generated peace, and the empty-chair policy that some partners chose to adopt never came with any solution to any problem. 

Besides, Europe is not a model to follow, but an engine fueled by dialogue, openness and integration. According to these three principles, the points of strength and weakness of Barcelona have been evaluated, as well as the future of the process in a new Europe. On these grounds, the existing cooperation needed to be consolidated, and the achievements of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership are to be protected and preserved.

ENP equals cooperation
The European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) embodies today a very high level of cooperation among the countries that are already members. The level of cooperation of each one of them is not what matters; since the main goal for each one of them is not to obtain a medallion at the end of the day, but to have a rather effective role in the course of action, to enter a market of 450 million consumers and to benefit from four essential freedoms: the freedom to exchange goods, merchandise and funds and the free movement of people. 

Once the partners work on modifying the terms of cooperation and on increasing the chances of integration, would that be enough to erase all the differences and claim victory? Certainly no, because politics are the product of men, because our people’s fate is to remain connected, because we need one another, because the new generations condemn war, we all have a common destiny. However, each side still looks at this destiny from a different perspective.

The success of such a policy does not emanate from those huge numbers reproduced on documents of financial conventions, or from the determination of some partners who aim at transforming Europe into a political shield against the American superpower. The success of this policy is contingent to the will of those leaders who should have an ambitious agenda, each one for his own country.