SUMMIT PRODUCES MEANINGLESS DEAL

A Euromed – the EU and 10 non-European Mediterranean countries – summit has reached a compromise deal on terrorism, with just a few crucial details omitted:

Against the clock and with a prospect of walking away empty-handed from the two-day Barcelona summit, the diplomats indulged in feverish negotiations which lead to a compromise deal that the Arab states, the EU and Israel could back.

The EU had wanted to condemn terrorism without quibbles, stating that the right to self-determination did not justify acts of violence, while the Arab states in the Euromed (Euro-Mediterranean) group wanted to include "legitimate resistance against any occupying foreign military force" in the terror definition.

None of the definitions were finally adopted however, and the agreed code of conduct avoids the sensitive issue of defining terrorism.

Instead, it commits the EU, Israel and its neighbours to "prevent terrorists accessing money and weapons, to disrupt their plans and disrupt their networks and to bring them to justice by strengthening international cooperation."

The EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana welcomed the agreement.

"We all know what we mean by fighting terrorism. In reality, there is total cooperation between the countries north and south of the Mediterranean against terrorism", Solana announced.

If everybody knows what constitutes terrorism and there's already total cooperation in fighting it, what's the point of this summit and the resulting non-deal deal? It's all about appreances:

Microphones placed in a ministers' meeting room caused some stir as they caught Mr Zapatero in a conversation with his advisor Charles Casajuana, underlining that EU leaders were determined to sign any agreement, in order not to lose face.

"The texts are not going very well, and we have to close something", the advisor told Zapatero, who reportedly answered "We have to close it. We have to close it, whatever it is."

The EU is just the UN in miniature: all show, no go.