The 76th EuroMed Senior Officials and Committee Meeting was held in Portorož, Slovenia, on the 9th and 10th of June 2008. This meeting, which takes place four times under each rotating Presidency, was the last regular meeting under the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council.
The Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council rounds off the first trio of Presidencies (Germany, Portugal and Slovenia) and the implementation of the first 18-month programme. The 76th EuroMed Senior Officials and Committee Meeting was the last under the Slovenian Presidency, rounding off a successful EuroMed presidency, which organised three Ministerial conferences: on information society in Egypt, on tourism in Morocco and on culture and intercultural dialogue in Greece, four regular Senior Officials and Committee Meetings, and about 40 meetings, conferences, workshops and seminars on various levels and fields and in different EuroMed partner countries. Also, it is under the Slovenian Presidency that the Anna Lindh Foundation for Dialogue between Cultures got a new president, executive director and advisory board.
At the meeting in Portorož the agenda centred largely on the exchanges of views on recent activities and those scheduled for coming weeks, such as the activities in the fields of dialogue between cultures, water, migration, higher education and research, and role of women in society.
The future Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean was also on the agenda. The main open issues were raised in the discussion on its modalities, such as the role and composition of new structures, final selection of key projects, the name of the new framework. It was agreed that a second Ad-hoc Senior Officials meeting dedicated solely to the Barcelona Process: Union for Mediterranean will be held on 27 June 2008 in Brussels (the first being held on 15 May in Brussels).
The partners thanked the Slovenian Presidency and stressed that the priorities of the Slovenian Presidency of transparent work and emphasis on dialogue and consultation with all partners have been fully respected.
