On 1 April 2005, the Euro-Mediterranean Civil Forum held its first session in the Jean Monnet Building at the European Commission in Luxembourg. It is organized with the assistance of the Luxembourg Presidency, and is the first to have been organized entirely autonomously by the NGO platform.

The centre of the forum consists of the Agora, where spontaneous discussions and the exchange of ideas takes place. It is a public arena enabling the participants to organize exhibitions and testimonials on non-governmental activities and experiences during the course of meetings and exchanges on a whole range of subjects.

The main part of the proceedings takes place in five thematic workshops which will be held on 1 and 2 April. These will adopt concrete recommendations which will be amended and approved by all participants in the Forum and then submitted to the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the countries participating in the Barcelona Process.

The workshop "Women towards (in)equality?" will discuss the means available to women in countries south of the Mediterranean of obtaining and keeping their rights, implementing these rights, and participating socially, economically and politically in the democratization processes which are under way in their countries.

The workshop "Sustainable development in the Mediterranean" will attempt to find alternatives to a single logic of free trade. How can we integrate the environment and the issues surrounding sustainable development, and how can we cushion the anticipated effects of the free-trade zone on the economies of the region?

In the workshop "Peace, human security and regional integration", the discussion essentially revolves around replacement of the word "peace", one of the key words of the Barcelona Process, by the concept of security, one of the key words of the new Neighbourhood Policy and the internal policy of the European Union. The question debated in this workshop is: "Is there a need therefore to renounce a "right to peace"?

In the workshop "South-south-north-east-west migrations: a chance for the Euro-Mediterranean basin?", the attempt will be made to remove the subject of migration from its current negative context. The close linkage between the EU's Neighbourhood Policy and its common internal and security policy and the consequences for the neighbouring countries in terms of border controls and migratory flows will be addressed. There then follows an attempt to determine the positive contribution made by migrants to the development of the receiving countries. Is there a positive dimension to south-south migration (or east-west)? What would be the value added of migrants in the "dialogue between cultures and civilizations"?

A final workshop will deal with "Obstacles to democratization and to the reform process in the region". This workshop will attempt to discuss the role of the European Union and the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership in the process of democratization which the players in civil society are urgently hoping for in the countries of the Process, bearing in mind the obstacles encountered over the past ten years. What concrete role is civil society henceforth called upon to play in these processes?

On Saturday 2 April, self-managed workshops will deal with the following questions: HIV/AIDS and human rights in the Euro-Mediterranean basin; Euromed free-trade agreements and their impact on the poor farmers in the region; cultural actors for the immediate application of the Barcelona Declaration; the specific concerns of youth; towards the formation of a Euromed network on migration; racism and discrimination in north and south; reforms in the Arab world.

On Sunday 3 April, the final declaration and the recommendations of the Civil Forum will be presented to the delegations of the Luxembourg Presidency and the European Union.  

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