Euro-Mediterranean partnership: financial and technical measures to accompany (MEDA) the reform of economic and social structures

The rapporteur, Barón Crespo (PSE, E), recalled the two reasons why the MEDA programme had been blocked at Council level: the first related to the clause on human rights, which in the event of a really serious violation would result in a suspension of the aid provided under the programme; according to one of the amendments tabled, this decision could be taken by the Council by qualified majority and would supersede any right of veto applied by a Member State. The second concerned the protection of Member States themselves; this applied in the case of Greece, on whose account an amendment had been tabled subordinating aid to the provision of safeguards for the territorial integrity of the external borders of Member States and of the Union itself. This said, the rapporteur recommended that Parliament should deliver a favourable opinion so that the Council could approve the regulation in question. Commissioner Marin pointed out that the MEDA and TACIS programmes were symbolic of the need for the reform of the CFSP to be examined by the IGC as a matter of some urgency; as regards the amendments, he declared that the Commission could accept Amendment No 3, which concerned the introduction of qualified majority voting in respect of human rights, this being for obvious reasons of a political nature that were also linked to the outcome of the IGC.