The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) has participated at the 11th Plenary Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean (PA-UfM), hosted by the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal in Lisbon, on 11-12 May 2015.
PAM was represented by Senator Francesco Amoruso (Italy), former PAM President, and Secretary General, Ambassador Sergio Piazzi.
In his address to the Plenary, dedicated to “Immigration, Asylum and Human Rights in the Euro-Mediterranean Region”, Sen. Amoruso reminded that security in Europe depends on the security in the Mediterranean. “It is for this reason that parliamentarians from the Euromediterranean region are called to concentrate their efforts to support the reconciliation process and the political dialogue in Libya, and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process”, PAM former President said. To this end, Sen. Amoruso reiterated the need to further strengthen collaboration among institutions like the UfM-PA and PAM, which in their complementary but unique roles, can tackle and propose concrete solutions to the diverse problems of the region.
With reference to terrorism Sen. Amoruso recalled the series of seminars for parliamentarians being held in collaboration with the European Union (EU), the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED). The first seminar for parliamentarians from the Maghreb region and entitled “The oversight of law enforcement and security services in the fight against terrorism“, was hosted by the Senate of Italy, in Rome on February 26 2015. A second larger seminar on counter terrorism, for all members of PAM, will be hosted by Romania in October.
Furthermore parliamentarians must support the initiatives of the United Nations and the international community to find a long term solution to the Syrian crisis, in order, among other things, to avoid the most vicious consequences of thousands of persons fleeing their country and falling victims of international human trafficking rings, for whom life is insignificant. He added that following a PAM high level mission to Syria in April, the delegation was informed that due the continued escalation of the conflict and the deterioration of the situation, around 1.5 million Syrians are ready to flee the country directly from Syrian ports, hopeful that they can reach Italy and Greece.
“The Southern Mediterranean needs a massive investment programme for the creation of jobs and development of infrastructures which can lead to an acceptable level of well-being and dignity of these populations”, Sen. Amoruso added.
The Lisbon event also served as an occasion for a number of bilateral meetings, among which with the Vice President of the European Parliament, Hon. David Maria Sassoli, and other senior officials, on the reinforcement of cooperation between the two institutions.