ABSTRACT
The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) is based on the assumption that the deepening of interregional relations cannot be achieved through governmental agreements alone, but requires popular participation. Against the background of mutual prejudices and misperceptions between the South and the North, cooperation at the level of civil society contributes to intercultural understanding. Furthermore, as the lines of conflict run not only between North and South, but exist also within each of the two regions - between Israelis and Palestinians, Greeks and Turks, Turks and Kurds-civil society co-operation can be particularly important in facilitating the reconciliation of conflict. This positive potential of civil society is recognized by all members of the EMP, and the Barcelona Declaration (1995) stresses ‘the essential contribution civil society can make in the process of development of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and as an essential factor for greater understanding and closeness between the people’.1
