Sessions
Saturday 29 March 2008
Session 1. For a shared vision of the circulation of men in Mediterranean, in partnership with Caisse Nationale des Caisses d’Epargne (9:30 - 11 am)
As everybody knows, the issue of migratory flows in the Mediterranean is one of the most challenging, and tragic, topics that the neighbouring States must deal with. Police measures will not be enough. An all-encompassing policy must be implemented, where education of younger generations, job-creating growth in the countries of emigration and the labour needs of the countries of immigration must be taken into account.
It seems obvious that the solutions are not national or even European, but depend on cooperation on the Mediterranean scale.
Session 2. For an urban and land-use planning policy in the Mediterranean , in partnership with Caisse des dépôts et consignations France & Caisse de Dépôt et Gestion Maroc (9:30 - 11 am)
Sprawling, chaotic megalopolises, “sensitive” suburbs, urban ghettos, housing problems, traffic jams and pollution make urban planning a major political and economic issue on both shores of the Mediterranean.
In this workshop we will think about possible models of cooperation for planning in general and urban planning in particular, especially ways in which governments and civil society’s main players — business owners, research centres, urban planners and city architects — can join hands.
Session 3. Security in the Mediterranean (9:30 - 11 am)
It is harder in the Mediterranean than in other places to agree on a single definition of terrorism. Of course, anti-terrorist professionals on both sides of the sea have no shortage of theoretical definitions: they can recognise the beast the moment it rears its ugly head. It would be interesting to review the state of cooperation between police forces, services and judicial systems and to think about ways of strengthening it.
But does this struggle require more than the classic tools of police, intelligence and justice?
Sunday 30 March 2008
Session 1. Union through education, culture and scientific cooperation (9:30 - 11am)
The wording is clear, but the means are not. Of these three goals, scientific cooperation, which theoretically follows universal criteria, is in principle the easiest to achieve. But the groundwork for true scientific cooperation must be laid, in particular grants, competitive institutions of higher learning and minimum freedom of movement.
The other two ideas are much more complicated. Nothing could be more different between the Mediterranean’s two shores than culture and its outgrowth, education. What would a Mediterranean Union that respects this diversity while finding common ground look like?
Session 2. Towards a Mediterranean of energy and the environment (9:30 - 11am)
It is no coincidence that these two issues are the focus of a single workshop. A main idea of the symposium that the Paris Forum devoted to Europe last year was to revive the CECA plan, a historic success, to benefit these two areas essential for the future of humanity in general and of the Mediterranean rim in particular.
But here as well there are glaring disparities between the two shores that, insofar as energy sources are concerned, do not always work in Europe’s favour. Can specific policies for a more efficient use of energy resources and sustainable development that takes the environment into account be imagined in the Mediterranean?
Session 3. Should the Union for the Mediterranean have its own institutions? (9:30 - 11am)
In theory, a political entity, and all the more so a “Union”, needs specific institutional organs in order to function, give shape to its members’ shared aspirations and express its own spirit. But some people will argue that those organs already exist and that setting up new ones would unnecessarily encumber a bureaucratic machine that would end up taking on a life of its own.
Obviously, the issue of institutions and their nature depends on the kind of Union one intends to create and the extent of its members’ integration deemed possible and desirable.
