The Barcelona summit, which began on Sunday, was meant to be the first time that leaders of a group that includes Israelis and Palestinians as well as the 25 EU countries had met. Previous meetings of the Euro-Mediterranean group, launched in Barcelona 10 years ago, have been at foreign minister level.

Nearly all the EU leaders turned up. But poor health or political problems at home kept most of the Mediterranean leaders – including Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon – away. That undermined the prestige of a meeting aimed at boosting cooperation across the Mediterranean – something many leaders think is vital to combat terrorism and illegal immigration. Nevertheless, European leaders insisted that the summit, which ends on Monday, will produce important results, including a pioneering code of conduct against terrorism.

<B>Madrid bombings</B>

Late on Sunday, foreign ministers were still battling to resolve differences over the definition of terrorism in the code of conduct and over references to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a proposed common vision statement. Syria and other Arab partners want the EU to distinguish between terrorism and the right to resist occupation, while the Europeans and Israel oppose any qualification of terrorism.

“The meetings are very intense. They are going on now and will continue into the night,” a Spanish official said. Spain – co-hosting the summit with current EU president Britain – has lobbied for greater EU commitment to North Africa. Madrid believes more prosperity in Africa will help stem the flow of migrants desperate to reach wealthy Europe and counter extremist beliefs that feed terrorism.

Spain has sought to step up cooperation with Morocco since the March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombings by Islamic extremists that killed 191 people. Many of those arrested in connection with the bombings are Moroccan. European statesmen put a brave face on the poor turnout by their Mediterranean partners, but one European official said privately they had missed a rare opportunity to win more attention and support from Europe. Only two – Turkey and the Palestinian Authority – sent their top leaders to the conference.

Sharon and Mubarak pulled out because of the political situation at home while Bouteflika was flown to Paris on Saturday for urgent hospital tests. The presidents of Syria and Lebanon were persuaded to stay away because they are in diplomatic quarantine over the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. An Arab diplomat said some leaders, such as Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, preferred to stay home rather than be lectured by the Europeans on democracy, human rights and freedom of expression.

On the streets of Barcelona, several thousand anti-summit demonstrators staged two marches under the banner “No to the Mediterranean of capital and war” on Sunday. The summit set the stage for an Israeli-Palestinian meeting, at which Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to disarm the militant Hamas group. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, making her summit debut, sought to reassure Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan at a separate meeting that she would not stand in the way of Turkey’s negotiations to join the EU.

<B>Adrian CROFT</B>

<B>The Commonwealth hopes EU will help win a better deal</B>

The Commonwealth’s top official said on Sunday he hoped the European Union will hear a call from the group of former colonies to cut its farm subsidies to help win a fairer deal on world trade. Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon said he wanted the three EU states in the Commonwealth – Britain, Cyprus and Malta – to begin lobbying their EU partners on trade at a summit of EU and Mediterranean rim leaders later on Sunday.

“The prime minister (of Malta) ... (will) be meeting all those European heads and I am sure he is very capable of explaining the background to the Commonwealth’s thinking,” McKinnon told a news conference. The group of 53 mostly former colonies issued pages of statements covering development, terrorism and migration, but the trade issue dominated a summit held a few weeks ahead of crucial World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Hong Kong. The main achievement of the summit, hosted by Malta, was a call on the EU to cut farm subsidies to help get a WTO agreement. Some diplomats say the Commonwealth stance will strengthen the hand of Prime Minister Tony Blair in tough negotiations with his EU peers in coming weeks. But by agreeing a statement critical of the EU, Blair, who holds the rotating presidency, risks deepening rifts with Paris and Berlin. Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said a trade deal that helped development could have a knock-on effect in reducing illegal migration. Commonwealth leaders confirmed they would next meet in 2007 in Uganda, setting aside concerns about democracy in the east African nation where opposition leader Kizza Besigye was arrested and faces a military trial for treason. Blair said he raised concerns with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni at the closed-door talks. Singapore was also questioned at the meeting about the death penalty that is due to be carried out later this week against an Australian drug smuggler.