"Europe's partnership with its southern neighbours is at a critical moment," declared Benita Ferrero-Waldner, External Relations Commissioner. "Ten years in, we have some key decisions to take, that will determine the future shape of our relationship." As the partnership approaches its tenth anniversary, the 25 EU Foreign Ministers and their Mediterranean colleagues met in Luxembourg on 30 and 31 May for the VIIth Euromed conference. They agreed that their programmes in matters of education, trade, economic integration and human rights need to be reinforced if they are to establish a Euro-Mediterranean free trade area by 2010 and assessed the strength of the partnership a few months ahead of the Barcelona declaration's tenth anniversary. The European Troïka, Israël and the Arab Mediterranean countries seized the opportunity to discuss the situation in the Middle-East and the perspective of Israel's retreat from Gaza. "Today we have witnessed that nobody now wishes to pull out of the Barcelona Process, on the contrary, others wish to join," declared the Luxembourg Presidency, welcoming the conference's success. As a matter of fact, Mauritania officially announced its intention to become a fully-fledged member of the Barcelona Process.
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