Two Mediterranean Olive Oil Families Unite

Two of the largest olive oil producing families in the Mediterranean --Devico of Morocco and Moreno of Spain-- have joined together to bring more quality olive oils to the United States by giving Pompeian Inc. of Baltimore, Maryland exclusive distribution rights in the USA.

Over 90% of all the olive oil in the world comes from groves in the Mediterranean region. Now two of the most prominent families from the region, Devico of Morocco and Moreno of Spain, have formed an alliance to bring more high quality olive oil to the United States and the world. Among the key beneficiaries of the alliance is Pompeian, Inc. of Baltimore which began importing the product in 1906 and has been owned by the Moreno family since 1975.

The Devico family also has been involved in olive oil for decades through the Aïcha brand. Based in the city of Meknes, Aïcha is the third best-known brand in Morocco, after Coca-Cola and Tide. Chairman Mardochée Devico, who launched the Aïcha making fruit jam, has grown the business into one that now refines more than 120 tons of edible oils per day. His vision has helped make Morocco become one of the top seven olive oil producing countries.

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Merkel Slams Sarko's Med Union Scheme

The German Chancellor warns Sarkozy his proposal for a Mediterranean union of European, North African, and Middle Eastern nations would hurt the EU
German chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that French plans for a Mediterranean Union risk splitting the EU. Speaking at a conference in Berlin on Wednesday (5 December), Ms Merkel indicated that if French president Nicolas Sarkozy pushed ahead with his proposals for a union of countries from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa the "core" of the European Union would be threatened.

The chancellor said that "cooperation between some member states has to be also open to the rest and it has to be approved by all member states." It cannot be that some countries establish a Mediterranean Union and fund this with money from EU coffers, said the German leader. "This could release explosive forces in the union I would not like," she said, according to news agency DPA.

Mr Sarkozy floated the idea for such a union during his presidential campaign earlier this year. Since becoming president in May, he has elaborated on the proposal saying in October that "in the Mediterranean will be decided whether or not civilisations and religions will wage the most terrible of wars...whether or not the North and the South will clash".

Under the plans, the group would tie southern Europe with Northern Africa as well as Israel and its Arab neighbours and tackle topical issues such as counter-terrorism, immigration, energy, trade, water and sustainable development. Just seven EU states -- Cyprus, Greece, France, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain -- are envisioned to take part.
Mr Sarkozy's Mediterranean Union idea -- he suggested on Wednesday that France and Algeria be the main axis of the Union -- has also raised eyebrows in Brussels. The European Commission fears it will undermine the 12-year-old Barcelona process, aimed at promoting dialogue between the EU and ten countries on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean.

There are also fears that it is a ruse to enmesh Turkey – which would be a member – into the process and detract from its current EU negotiations, with Mr Sarkozy being strongly opposed to Ankara's EU membership bid.

Business Week

Spain aims to restore coastlines look

Spain plans to restore a fifth of its coastline from overdeveloped concrete jungle to a more natural state by enforcing legislation to demolish illegal construction, officials said Monday. The €5 billion (US$7.2 billion) plan, which would affect about 700 kilometers (435 miles) of coast, was approved by the government in Cabinet last week and is due to be presented to regional authorities Wednesday, an Environment Ministry spokesman said.

Spain's coasts have for decades acted as magnets for tourism and property development, offering Mediterranean and Canary Island seaside locations to which northern Europeans — and Spaniards — have flocked for sun-drenched holidays. A real-estate boom has seen housing developments, golf courses and holiday complexes spring up along many of the once largely unspoiled coasts.

IHT Europe

Sonatrach declares not to be affected by EU energy plans

Algeria reiterated on Saturday it is not concerned by European Union's proposals to end the monopoly on its gas and electricity market, saying it aims to remain a major supplier to Europe.

The comments by Mohamed Meziane, Chief Executive Officer of state-owned energy firm Sonatrach, came a week after Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil said the EU's plans would not affect his country's state-owned oil and gas firm.

"Until now, we see nothing indicating that the plans would affect Sonatrach. We need to wait and see the regulation which will be adopted," Meziane told state radio. "Sonatrach wants to be present in supplying the European gas market, which is our natural market," he added.

The European Union executive this month adopted proposals aimed at forcing big utilities such as Germany's E.ON and Electricite de France to separate power generation from their distribution networks.

The new rules will also bar foreign firms from controlling European energy networks unless they play by EU rules and their home country reaches an agreement with Brussels, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said. Algeria is a major supplier of gas to Europe, particularly Spain, Italy and France. Its current output is estimated at 62 billion cubic metres per year, and is expected to reach 85 billion per year by 2015.

Reuters

EU neighbourhood policy divisions

Ministers from within the EU and from its neighbouring countries gathered for the first time on Monday (3 September) to discuss the bloc's neighbourhood policy, but the meeting highlighted the strong divisions about what such a policy should mean. Ukraine, which has made no secret of its EU membership ambitions, refused to see the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) as the sole means of bilateral relations with Brussels.

"The ENP cannot be accepted as an adequate basis for EU-Ukrainian relations", Ukraine ambassador Roman Shpek said at the conference.

Designed with the objective of offering EU neighbours closer – or privileged – cooperation with the bloc, the ENP does not offer EU membership – something clearly underlined by Germany."The ENP is a separate issue from EU membership. It doesn't open any doors", German state minister Gunter Gloser stated.

Newer member states took up Ukraine's side, however. Poland - one of Kiev's most loyal allies within the EU, underlined both Ukraine and Moldova's "European identity" and the fact that the ENP should not stop European countries from "pursuing [their] EU ambition"."Countries like Ukraine and Moldova have this vocation", Polish foreign minister Anna Fotyga said. "We have to keep the door open, even if it's on the long term", Hungarian foreign minister Kinga Goncz added.

Criticism from within

Some of the strongest criticisms of the policy from within the EU came from Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos. "We need to get beyond the rather limited framework in which we operate with our neighbours. I think the ENP needs to have a genuine political dimension. It cannot be limited to a mix of different instruments", he said.

As with France, which recently proposed a Mediterranean Union, Spain's focus is much more on the states neighbouring Europe's southern borders. But beyond their differences in priorities and views, most participants seemed to agree that cooperation between the EU and its neighbours should be increased in energy security and that more should be done on trade liberalisation.

In addition, many neighbouring countries said they wanted more progress on visa facilitation making it possible for certain categories of people – businessmen and students for instance – to enter the EU more easily.

For its part, the European Commission proposed a new system of so-called Mobility Partnerships, making it easier for non-EU nationals to legally work in the EU. Countries such as Algeria and Morocco stressed the positive aspects of migration, saying it should not be seen exclusively as a threat.

EU should be a player, not simply a payer

Representatives of the civil society, academics and the media from the neighbouring countries were also present at the conference and gave their opinions and ideas during workshops in the afternoon.

Professor Lena Kolarska-Bobinska, director of the Warsaw-based Institute of Public Affairs, said she often heard that "the EU is a payer, not a player" during her stay in the Middle East. She said the EU could change this by introducing certain conditions - such as reforms of the judiciary system - in exchange for aid. "In many places expectations are high about a more important role of the EU", she said. "The EU has the instruments, but it has to have courage and not to be ashamed to be an actor".

The European Neighbourhood Policy covers 16 countries – Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Ukraine.

Spain now proposes Mediterranean Union

Spain's foreign minister has proposed a Mediterranean Union, an idea first suggested by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, with fully fledged institutions along the lines of the European Union.

"The moment has arrived ... to build a real geopolitical space through the establishment of a Mediterranean Union," Miguel Angel Moratinos wrote in an article in yesterday's El Pais, a prominent Spanish daily.

A union comprising EU states and Mediterranean countries should have a council of heads of state and government that would set strategic policy guidelines, ministerial councils, a Permanent Commission to act as a secretariat, a reinforced parliamentary assembly and even its own bank, he said. "The organization would help the region tackle challenges ranging from environmental issues to immigration."

Moratinos' comments follow a meeting of foreign ministers from Mediterranean EU countries in Slovenia this month, which discussed expanding the existing Barcelona Process of regular meetings between EU member states and Mediterranean states.

The Barcelona Euro-Mediterranean partnership, created in 1995 at the height of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, has been dogged by the failure to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. Other obstacles to the declared objectives of promoting political, economic and cultural cooperation, as well as creating a Mediterranean free trade area by 2010, have been agricultural protectionism in southern Europe and the opaque, authoritarian nature of many south Mediterranean governments. Spain tried to stage a first Euro-Mediterranean summit in Barcelona in 2005, but most Arab leaders stayed away.

Spain Wants World-Heritage Status for its Food

Do tapas and gazpacho need UNESCO recognition? Spain thinks so -- and is campaigning for "Mediterranean cuisine" to be added to the list.

The UNESCO world heritage list for Spain includes the Roman aqueduct in Segovia and, of course, the Alhambra. Now the Spanish government wants to add "Mediterranean cuisine" -- a recommendation that raised a few smiles in Brussels on Monday.

It's not a completely absurd idea: Elena Espinosa, Spain's Minister of Agriculture and Fishing, suggested at an EU meeting on Monday that Mediterranean food should be added to UNESCO's list of "intangible" world-heritage contributions, which would lift the international profile of paella and gazpacho to the level of pygmy dances in Africa or death rituals in Mexico.

But the suggestion did cause a minor rift between southern and northern EU delegates. Germany's agricultural minister, Horst Seehofer -- a known fan of Schweinshaxe, or Bavarian pig's knuckle -- reportedly couldn't restrain a smirk. But his Portuguese colleague, Jaime Silva, whose government assumed the EU presidency from Berlin on July 1, called Spain's suggestion a "good idea."

Rieks Smeets, head of the Intangible Heritage Section at UNESCO, told SPIEGEL ONLINE that his office has so far not listed any diets or cuisines. He also hadn't seen the Spanish proposal. He said Madrid may be trying to drum up international support in Brussels before making a formal pitch to UNESCO. Spain's written bid calls the Mediterranean diet "rich, varied, balanced, healthy and delicious." It wants to promote the cuisine as a contribution to world nutrition, and it bucks up its case with evidence from a US researcher, Ancel Keys, who published a study in the 1950s making the now-conventional claim that a diet rich in olive oil, fruit, vegetables and fruit -- plus measured doses of wine -- could lower the risk of heart disease. Keys died in 2004, at the age of 100.

Smeets didn't think the Spanish idea was so strange. "Some states do have culinary traditions, especially traditions that are linked to rituals," so he expected more such proposals to cross his desk.

Der Spiegel

Key facts: Africa to Europe migration

Thousands of Africans try to make the journey to Europe each year as illegal migrants - risking people smugglers, deserts, sea crossings and the possibility of being sent home, all for the dream of a better life.

ECONOMIC PROFILES
EUROZONE Life expectancy: 80 years Population growth: 0.6% School enrolment, primary: 98.9% HIV prevalence (aged 15-49): 0.3% Internet users (per 1,000 people): 439.4 Time to start a business: 26.9 days
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Life expectancy: 47 years Population growth: 2.3% School enrolment, primary: 65.7% HIV prevalence (aged 15-49): 5.8% Internet users (per 1,000 people): 29 Time to start a business: 61.5 days
Source: World Bank 2005

ROUTES TO EUROPE
The main aim of migrants is to reach European soil - be it mainland Europe or the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla or islands in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
The main departure points are:

• West coast of Africa: Northern Mauritania, Western Sahara and southern Morocco from where most head for the Canary Islands.
• Northern Morocco to cross into Ceuta and Melilla or cross the straits to Spain.
• Tunisia and Libya for boats heading for Italy's island of Lampedusa, Sicily and Malta.

But first the migrants must cross great distances. The main routes are:
SMUGGLERS' PRICES BY SEA:
Africa to Canary Islands: 1,000-1,500 euros
North Morocco to Spain: 1,000 euros
Libya to Italy: 1,500-2,000 euros BY LAND:
Sub-Sahara to Morocco: 1,000-2,000 euros
Through Mali: 1,000 euros
Across Sahara: 1,700-3,400 euros BY AIR/LAND/SEA:
South Asia to Africa to Europe: 9,000-16,000 euros Source: UN

DESTINATION SPAIN
As the closest European country to the African continent, Spain is on the frontline for illegal migration. From there, migrants often make their way to other European countries.

Spain's enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in northern Morocco are initial targets for many migrants. Once detained they can be expelled, repatriated or sent to mainland Spain, where many are reported to be released, pending expulsion. The enclaves' authorities were forced to double the size of border fences around the coastal territories in 2005 when hundreds of migrants attempted to scale the defences. Two migrants were shot dead by a Moroccan guard.

For years, people have risked crossing the sea to get to mainland Spain, but in 2006 there was a closer focus on its islands - thousands headed for the Canary Islands in former African fishing boats, prompting an increase in joint "Frontex" patrol operations by Spain, the EU and African nations. But tightening security at one departure point simply seems to shift it elsewhere.

IMMIGRANTS IN EUROPE
The latest report on migration by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says African migration to developed countries is marginal in relation to overall flows. The majority of African migrants living overseas are in Europe - about 4.6m compared with 890,000 in the US, according to the International Organization for Migration. But the Migration Policy Institute believes there are between seven and eight million irregular African immigrants living in the EU - the actual number changing depending on regularisation schemes in the member states.

About two-thirds of Africans in Europe are from north Africa (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia). An increasing number are travelling from Sub-Saharan Africa, mainly heading for the former colonial powers of France, England, Germany and Italy. Most Sub-Saharan migrants are from West Africa - Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal, in particular.

About 22,016 people reached Italy by boat in 2006, down slightly from 2005. But the sea crossings are not without their dangers - it is thought hundreds die attempting to reach Europe. In June this year, 24 Africans drowned after a dinghy capsized south of Malta.

SENDING MONEY HOME
Having migrated, many migrants send money home to family they have left behind. Billions of dollars each year is sent back to Africa from the diaspora around the world - in some cases making up a sizeable chunk of the home country's GDP.
BBC