Transformation and Integration in the Mediterranean – Choices to Consider Mats Karlsson, Director, Center for Mediterranean Integrationi Marseille, 4 April 2011 The Arab Democratic Spring opens opportunities for long awaited economic and social progress. The untenable gaps have long been visible.ii Reforms have been held back by poor government. The private sector has been stymied by the constraints of privilege rather than boosted by the creative forces of competition.iii Gaps within and between countries became increasingly unacceptable to a young generation aware of what is possible and tired of waiting. Efforts of reformers and external support did in the past years bring some change in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, but not in ways that delivered fruits in pace with growing demand. Reforms were shown not to be adequate, comprehensive or effective enough – and in their own way they may have contributed to intensifying the untenable nature of the situation. The flipside of this is the potential for change and catch-up. While creating new jobs rapidly is a priority, success will not come easily. However, it is possible to outline the general focus and nature of choices to make. Persevering with transformational reform, where effects may take years, while people want rapid results, will be a major political challenge. While more, decent and better paying jobs is the one overall objective – nothing is more empowering than a job, nothing shows successful competitiveness better than the creation of new jobs – it was dignity that was the most potent word at the beginning of this Arab Spring. Repeated again and again it marked the character of the protests. While issues of democracy, human rights and constitutional change are rightly priority, dignity – as in empowerment over the future – necessarily has to be realized over a broad complementary set of economic, social and environmental areas. What is apparent is that in most of them transformative change is intrinsically linked to integration. The intensity of interdependence today is such that local and national change can only succeed if it embraces integration in a much more focused way than before. While there are many geo-economic dimensions – across the Arab world, Africa and the globe – economic, historic and people-to-people relations suggest that Mediterraneaniv integration, with the European Union as a major anchor, is the necessary framework to deepen and renew. Five hundred millionv people live in the region around the Mediterranean, with an economy of about $5 trillionvi and a growth rate of 2.2%.vii Here is where both the new orientations of reform and external actors need to consider embracing new levels of ambition. The macro-economic environment presents serious challenges, and thus there are limits on the availability of finance for reform and investment. Egypt and Tunisia, but also Morocco, Lebanon and Jordan must deal with immediate pressures, such as drops in foreign direct investments, exports and tourism. Fiscal pressures will increase. While every effort should be made for early recovery, the external environment cannot be expected to be greatly conducive, given the high oil price and sluggish recovery in Europe. Financial sector reform should help to channel available capital to businesses more effectively than in the past. Fiscal reform, particularly redirecting „blind subsidies‟ to alleviate poverty or achieve 1