A pioneering survey on cross-cultural values set out a roadmap for regional co-operation despite major gaps in mutual perceptions

Alexandria/Brussels, 16 September 2010 - The Anna Lindh Report “EuroMed Intercultural Trends 2010”, which is based on the very first Gallup Public Opinion Poll on intercultural trends and values in the Euro-Mediterranean region, was launched internationally yesterday afternoon in Brussels.

Speaking at the event Štefan Füle, EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy, said: “The report we are launching gives us useful insights into the low levels of mutual knowledge that exist in the Euro-Mediterranean region”. While confirming the importance of the report in enhancing our understanding of the others and also ourselves, Commissioner Fule added: “I believe this report and its recommendations will help us to address some of the challenges we are facing in the region”.

In his contribution in the Anna Lindh Report,  Amre Moussa, Secretary General of the League of Arab States, commented: “Viewed as one geographic space, the 'Euro-Mediterranean' region needs to bring closer the existing cultures and civilizations based on the belief in cultural diversity”.

From his side André Azoulay, President of the Anna Lindh Foundation, stated: “The report will provide the international community with an institutional answer to the key question of how relations between 'Islam and the West' could be built differently by finishing with all kinds of stigmatization or denial of political conflicts which have lasted for too long in the Middle East.”

The Anna Lindh Report sheds light for the first time on the reality of cultural relations in the region, by revealing some important findings among which :

• People are Victims of a Clash of Ignorance: People living in societies in Europe and in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region are suffering from a distorted and stereotyped perception of each other, despite increased interaction and the existence of compatible values across the Region

• Centrality of Religious Values in improving intercultural relations: according to the findings of the Report the most pronounced difference in values between European countries and those on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean is the importance placed on faith, and how this factor should be taking into consideration while filling the gap in mutual perceptions between people across the region.

• People in favour of a Mediterranean Union: people across the Region expect that a common project in the model of the Union for the Mediterranean can bring to their societies positive benefits for the future.