3rd Euro-Arab Cities Forum

Dubai, 10-11 February 2008

Speech by Ian Micallef, President of the Chamber of Local Authorities, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Council of Europe

Mr Chairman,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour for me to address this Forum as President of the Chamber of Local Authorities of the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. I wish to thank the organisers of this event, and more particularly the Municipality of Dubai for hosting it in this beautiful city.

This Forum gives all of us an opportunity to reaffirm and reinforce the spirit in which it has been organised – the spirit of Euro-Arab dialogue, which was launched way back in 1984, with the signing in Valencia, Spain, of the Agreement of Friendship and Cooperation between European and Arab Cities. Our efforts to bridge Europe and the Mediterranean have been gaining momentum since then, including through the Council of Europe North-South Centre for Global Interdependence and Solidarity and the establishment of the Euro-Med Parliamentary Assembly, EMPA, modelled on the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. [May I also recall that this process received particular impetus during the period when Catherine Lalumière was the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.]

Of course, this dialogue has been conceived as a dialogue for peace, but today we are increasingly aware that it is also a dialogue for development – because when there is development, there is peace. This dialogue is also part of a special relationship established between European and Arab cities, which has been reaffirmed by the previous Euro-Arab Cities Forums in Marrakesh, Marocco, in 1988 and in Valencia, Spain, in 1994.

May I add that this special relationship has also been reflected in the involvement of European cities in the Middle East process, and here I can mention the Municipal Alliance for Peace in the Middle East (MAP) and the personal commitment of the Mayor of The Hague, Dim Weetman, as well as the observation of local elections in the Palestinian Territories by the Council of Europe and United Towns France, or the round table on how European cities can help the Middle East process, organised by the Congress’ Chamber of Local Authorities in November 2006 in Moscow.

As someone coming from Malta, an island in the Mediterranean whose history is closely intertwined with the developments on both sides of the sea, I can attest to the richness of exchanges and the wealth of possibilities for rapprochement between Europe and the Arab world. In many historical and geographical respects, Malta is at the crossroads of this rich Mediterranean diversity Throughout history, the Mediterranean has been the sea uniting people. Despite all the conquests, wars and conflicts we have had, it brought together Europe, Africa and Asia, through cultural exchanges, commerce, migration of people, and our natural proximity to each other. The large populations of people from the southern rim of the Mediterranean living in Europe, as much as the large numbers of Europeans in the countries across the Mediterranean sea, are a clear proof of that.

Engaging the countries of the southern rim of the Mediterranean is important for Europe and a wider region as a whole, first, to break down the stereotype of “Fortress Europe” and to establish the relationship of solidarity and cooperation between the two shores of the sea uniting us. The Council of Europe has been the first European institution to launch the Euromed project and other campaigns against intolerance, xenophobia and racism. All these aimed to dismantle borders which up to a few decades ago divided the two shores.

And here is where our cities come into play. Our cities have always been a tapestry of cultures embroidered in cultural and commercial exchanges, examples of co-existence of different ethnic and religious communities enriching each other through mutual experiences, discovering and getting to know each other because of their proximity within city boundaries.

It comes as no surprise that the Congress, a pan-European body bringing together local and regional authorities representing more than 200,000 territorial communities in Europe, has been closely involved in fostering intercultural and interreligious dialogue at local level, and also in the emerging trend of City Diplomacy – all as part of our action to improve local governance. Our European Charter of Local Self-Government inspired the Guidelines on Local Government worldwide, adopted by the United Nations last year. Most recently, in October 2007, the European Ministers responsible for Local and Regional Government approved, again in Valencia, the Council of Europe Strategy for Innovation and Good Governance at Local Level.

We would like to share all these acquis in the field of local governance with our neighbours in the Arab world, and we invite you to become familiar with them and involved in applying them, and promoting values which they represent, on Arab soil. What we need today is to find a capacity for exchanges between European and Arab territorial communities living together in peace, a capacity for increasing their cooperation for development.

In this regard, also as a Maltese politician, I was pleased to hear the proposal of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to create the “Mediterranean Union” – a proposal which should inspire us to join our efforts in finding a way for putting this idea into practice. Various details still need to be worked out and discussed within the European institutions, but this idea has already kindled considerable interest throughout the Mediterranean area. It illustrates the growing conviction in Europe that European construction cannot be achieved without the Mediterranean, and the Arab world in a larger sense. The fact that my country is a stepping stone between two shores of the same sea only strengthens my conviction that beyond the diversity the Union is possible and the Union is something worth striving for. I believe that we have a good opportunity today to express our support for this proposal and convey it to the French Presidency of the European Union.

For its part, the Euro-Med Parliamentary Assembly should react, in my view, by setting up a permanent structure for local authorities, an assembly which could be modelled on the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and in which the Congress could represent the European part. These are some of the ideas as food for thought, which could be further discussed at this Forum.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to conclude by stressing again that today, as never before, we have a historic opportunity to build synergies and cooperation in a greater Euro-Mediterranean and Arab space – cooperation for peace, stability, prosperity and democracy. I am sure that this Forum will help to advance the spirit of dialogue for peace and development which I mentioned at the outset, the dialogue which was at the beginning of our road of cooperation. This road can be bumpy and treacherous at times, but this is the road which has to be travelled. More important – this is the road which is worth travelling.