MEPs look forward to increased cooperation with Mediterranean partners
A Commission proposal to simplify the implementation of the MEDA programme, the programme for technical and financial cooperation with the Mediterranean partner countries, was welcomed by the European Parliament's Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy at a meeting on 12 July. The programme is the main financial instrument of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership initiated in 1995, accounting for almost three quarters of the overall five-year financial package. Ninety per cent of the MEDA budget is spent via bilateral programmes and ten per cent via the 'regional dialogue' framework. As well as simplifying procedures, the committee also wishes to introduce measures to strengthen cooperation between the Union and the Member States and to enhance the transparency of budgetary decisions of the Commission. Committee members called for a more strategic and integrated approach by the programme, stressing the need to maintain a streamlined approach in the new MEDA II regulation. The Parliament also called on the Commission to speed up the process of negotiating the association agreements.