05/06/2015 Political Affairs and Democracy
Participants at a discussion about the current political challenges and opportunities in the Mediterranean Region, held in Rome today, stressed the need for a Libyan-led political process. They also drew attention to the risk of imminent economic collapse in Libya regardless of any political developments.
The Sub-Committees on External Relations and on the Middle East and the Arab World held a meeting today in Rome in cooperation with the EU-Council of Europe joint programme “Towards a Strengthened Democratic Governance in the Southern Mediterranean” (South Programme II) and the Italian Parliament, on the Current Political Challenges and Opportunities in the Mediterranean Region.
The meeting took stock of political developments and trends in the region four years after the “Arab Spring”, with particular focus on the difficulties of democracy-building, security issues linked with the emergence of the terrorist entity known as “Islamic State”, and ways to address the humanitarian disaster resulting from the unprecedented rise of irregular migratory flow.
Pietro Grasso, President of the Italian Senate, Benedetto Della Vedova, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Italy), Ambassador Luca Giansanti, Director General of Political Affairs and Security, and a number of invited guests including Hala Mustafa, a political scientist from Egypt and Abdul Rahman Al Ageli, co-founder of the Libyan Youth Forum, were amongst those to address parliamentarians.
The participants stressed that the countries of the South Mediterranean and Middle East urgently needed stable institutions and societies based on democratic and secular values. Ideas, including extremist ones, cannot be fought with weapons. Gabriela Battaini-Dragoni, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and Gianni Buquicchio, President of the Venice Commission, provided details on what the Council of Europe was already doing, and could do in addition, to contribute to this purpose.
The meeting paid special attention to the current situation in Libya. Speakers, without undermining the importance of international mediation efforts, stressed the need for a Libyan-led political process. They also drew attention to the risk of imminent economic collapse in Libya regardless of any political developments.
The speakers also called for a more integrated and responsible European policy to deal with the migratory catastrophe in the Mediterranean. No country is able to face it alone and a more resolute and solidarity-based response is urgently needed, including a possible revision of the Dublin Regulation which no longer provides for fair, efficient and effective protection of asylum seekers.