A majority of people recognise the benefits of regional cooperation in the model of the ‘Union for the Mediterranean’ according to the very first Gallup Opinion Poll on Euro-Mediterranean Cross-Cultural Relations  

Brussels, 15 September 2010– For the very first time, people living in Europe and the southern and eastern Mediterranean region have been surveyed about their readiness for a unified entity and a shared project around the Mediterranean.

According to the Gallup Euro-Mediterranean Poll 2010, commissioned by the Anna Lindh Foundation as part of its pioneering Report on Intercultural Trends that is launched today in Brussels, 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.

Speaking on the occasion of the international launch event in Brussels, André Azoulay, President of the Anna Lindh Foundation, said: “With the findings of the Report, we will be able to address all those issues which have undermined and weakened the institutional and ideological aspects of previous attempts of building a Union for the two Mediterranean shores, ensuring that the Partnership is more than just a large and unbalanced trade zone, giving it human legitimacy, social justice and acceptable shared rules to face common challenges.”

The Anna Lindh/Gallup Opinion Poll involved 13,000 people from thirteen Euro-Mediterranean countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Lebanon, Morocco, Spain, Sweden, Syria, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

As revealed by the Poll, innovation and entrepreneurship are the benefits most mentioned by the people living on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean in relation to a shared Mediterranean project.  Respect for other cultures, social solidarity and youthful dynamism are the most appreciated benefits by Europeans.

The Anna Lindh Report also reveals that the ‘Mediterranean’, as a socio- cultural category, exists for the majority of people of the Region, with four out of five respondents identifying positive images with it such as hospitality, life-style and common cultural heritage and history.

About 80 percent of respondents associated the Mediterranean to a positive virtue and expressed it as a true curiosity and frank desire to reach for and discover the other as well as the deep conviction of a proximity which would draw its legitimacy from historic depth. More than 80.5 per cent envisage the Mediterranean as a common heritage.  At the same time, respondents expressed the potential of the Mediterranean as a source of concern, with nearly 68 per cent of respondents for example seeing the Mediterranean as a possible source of conflict in the Region.

Proposals for Action

The Anna Lindh Report 2010 aims to act as a tool of action in the hands of institutions, civil society, governments, media and individuals committed to improving cross-cultural relations. Building on the Survey findings and Report analysis, a number of guidelines and proposals have been set out including:

• Conveying Key Images and Values associated to the Region.  As underlined in the qualitative analysis of the Report the transmission of positive images that people associate with the Mediterranean can form the basis for the improvement of mutual perceptions and the promotion of a feeling of emotional co-ownership towards the common Euro-Mediterranean project.  In order to achieve this objective, engagement at the institutional and civil society level is essential. The political declarations of the Union for the Mediterranean must always underline the human and social dimension of the project, with a recommendation to adopt a motto for the Union conceived around the key shared values and images associated with the Mediterranean region

• Enhancing the Role of Youth and Women as main actors of the Union for the Mediterranean.  The Report demonstrates that youth are driving forces for the promotion of intercultural dialogue across the Region and recommends continued investment in their capacity as intercultural leaders and active promoters of shared values. The promotion of transnational youth encounters and support for youth-led local initiatives with an intercultural dimension should be assured, while maximising the use of virtual programmes and  online media in the launch of Region-wide dialogue campaigns. The important role and contribution of women registered through the Anna Lindh/Gallup Poll results in shaping and conveying values among their immediate community should be emphasised and supported through programmes focussed on enhancing their capacity to promote dialogue across Euro-Mediterranean societies.  

• Developing Tools for an Improved Quality of Interaction.  Ensuring the quality, more than the quantity of intercultural exchanges and investing more in innovative tools to improve the intercultural skills of people. The Report sets out a number of existing programmes and tool-kits which can be maximised for the purposes of dialogue work. The importance of these intercultural skills should be conveyed to the large majority of inhabitants of the Region, and the organisation of a yearly main intercultural dialogue event across the Euro-Mediterranean region could help raise awareness