Seminar GlobalEurope 1 / EU-Arab world

Organised in partnership with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs

— > Seminar’s executive summary

Concept

If one word was to define Euro-Arab relations, this word would be “intimacy”, i.e. with all the ambiguity the word conveys: feeling of proximity and mutual knowledge on the one hand; uneasy overall understanding and muffled fears on the other. As if any proximity bore a risk. It is a relationship anchored in a past in which religions united, rather than separated, the two worlds. Of course this relation is experienced differently according to whether we are Northern, Southern, Eastern or Western Europeans, more or less intimate. Finally Euro-Arab relations are central to the emergence of a common European policy for reasons of history (centuries of complicated relations), geography reasons (one of the two great neighbor-regions of Europe), demography (Arab youth vs Europe’s ageing), economy (energy, re-location, new markets…) and politics (democratization, terrorism, poverty…).

In many European states, the last-decades’ flows of immigration from Arab origin introduced an interior dimension to the question of the relation between the Arabs and the Europeans, reversing somehow the colonial period’s issue.

Of course the Israel-Arab conflict, almost uninterrupted since the creation of the state of Israel, directly affects Euro-Arab relations, thus strongly intermingled with transatlantic relations; the on-going Iraqi crisis and its unpredictable consequences greatly contribute to increase the complexity of Euro-Arab relations.

Within these relations, religion no longer is the central prism that it used to be at the time when “Christianity” and “Islam” meant “European” and “Arab”. It remains a significant aspect; but, as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks and Iraq war, the Arab world wonders more than ever about its position in the 21st century.

At a time when the European Union is about to become a continental entity (enlargement) and to adopt its constitution, it is urgent to identify the main lines of what could be the relations in 2020 between Europeans and Arabs who have in common the task to invent the way between aspiration to unity and unquestionable diversity. This is the aim of this GlobalEurope seminar.

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Programme

9.00 – Welcome of participants

9.30 – Welcome word by Franck Biancheri, Director of Research & Strategy, Europe 2020

9.40 – Introduction

. Mr David Paurd, Middle-East & North Africa Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Paris

. HE Dr Nassif Hitti, Director, Mission of the Arab League, Paris

10.00 – Theme 1 – Main challenges of Euro-Arab relations: Member-States’ perceptions

Introduction to the theme by Yvette Daoud, Advisor for relations with the Islamic world, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague

Debate

11.00 Break

11.30 Theme 2 – Identification of the main economic common interests of the EU in its relation with the Arab world

Introduction to the theme by Tamás Szigetvári, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for World Economics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest

Debate

12.30 Luncheon

14.00 Theme 3 – Identification of the main political common interests of the EU in its relation with the Arab world

Introduction to the theme by Jean-Christophe Ploquin, Journalist, specialist of the Arab World , Bayard Presse

Debate

15.00 Break

15.30 Theme 4 – W hich Euro-Arab partnerships to build in a global framework by 2020 ?

Round table

16.30 Work-synthesis

17.00 Closing speech, by Mrs Noëlle Lenoir, Minister in charge of European Affairs, Paris

17.30 End of the seminar

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Participants

. Camilla Åberg : Ministère suédois des Affaires étrangères

. Gerhard Almer : Conseiller Affaires politiques, Ambassade d’Allemagne à Paris

. Jean-François Bernicot : Membre de la Cour des Comptes européenne, Luxembourg

. Franck Biancheri : Directeur Etudes & Stratégie, Europe 2020

. Laurent Burin des Rosiers : Sous-Directeur de CCF/A à la DGCID, Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Paris

. Marie-Hélène Caillol : Vice-Présidente, Europe 2020

. Diego Colas : Conseiller technique, Cabinet de la Ministre déléguée aux Affaires européennes, Paris

. Henri de Courtivron : Directeur exécutif, Crédit Agricole

. Yvette Daoud : Conseillère pour les Relations avec le Monde Islamique, Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, La Haye

. Gilles Delafon : Editorialiste, Journal du Dimanche

. Luména Duluc : Rédactrice en chef, Newropeans Magazine

. Frédéric Faurennes : PDG, IDS-France

. Darja Golez : Diplomate, Ministère slovène des Affaires étrangères

. Darach Mac Fhionnbhairr : Premier Secrétaire, Ambassade d’Irlande à Paris

. Lisa Gauthier : Etudiante, Europe 2020

. Joao Mira Gomes : Ministre Plénipotentiaire, Ambassade du Portugal à Paris

. Georgeta Grama : Chef de projet, Transatlantic Information Exchange System

. Pierre Groppo : Etudiant/Stagiaire, OCDE

. Marie Gutmann : Productrice, Time TV

. Jean Guyot : Président, Fondation Hippocrène

. Nassif Hitti : Directeur de la Mission de la Ligue des Etats Arabes à Paris

. Régis Jamin : PDG, Election-Europe.com

. Anne Jensen : Troisième secrétaire, Ambassade de Danemark

. Olivier Joseph : , Europe 2020, Paris

. Marc Khattar : Membre fondateur du RPL Rhône Alpes

. Valérie Legalcher-Baron : Adjointe du Chef de Cabinet, Cabinet de la Ministre déléguée aux Affaires européennes, Paris

. Noëlle Lenoir : Ministre déléguée aux Affaires européennes, Paris

. Cleopatra Lorintiu : Diplomate, Ministère roumain des Affaires étrangères

. Nicolas Matthioudakis : Premier Conseiller, Ambassade de Grèce

. Philippe Micaelli : PDG, Finamer Consulting

. Dominique Mineur : Première secrétaire, Ambassade de Belgique à Paris

. Michael Nevin : Middle-East & North Africa Department, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, London

. Martin Ortega : Chargé de recherche, Institut d’Études de sécurité de l’UEO, Paris

. Paula Parviainen : Conseillère des affaires politique, Ambassade de Finlande à Paris

. David Paurd : Chargé de mission auprès du Directeur d’Afrique du Nord et du Moyen-Orient, Ministère français des Affaires Etrangères

. Patryk Pawlak : Etudiant, Université de Czestochowa, Pologne

. Jean-Christophe Ploquin : Journaliste, spécialiste du Monde Arabe, Bayard Presse

. Marianne Ranke-Cormier : Directrice administrative, Europe 2020

. Zoltan Szentgyörgyi : Diplomate, Ministère hongrois des Affaires étrangères

. Tamás Szigetvári : PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for World Economics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest

. Natali Toth : Troisième secrétaire, Ambassade de Hongrie

. Stefan Tressing : Affaires politiques et stratégiques, Ambassade de Suède à Paris

. Goda Izabele Venslauskaite : Deuxième secrétaire aux Affaires politiques, Ambassade de Lituanie à Paris

. Alexandre Zafiriou : Principal Administrator, General Directorate of External relations, EU Council