Anger at Euromed failure.

Europe's mostly Muslim southern neighbours will be left angry and frustrated after a summit ended Monday with the EU hailing a pact to fight terror but failing to broach their basic concerns, analysts said.

The two-day Euromed summit in Barcelona was supposed to mark a revitalization of a 10-year-old partnership between the European Union and 10 Mediterranean-rim countries, stretching from Morocco to Israel.

But lingering tension was palpable after the gathering in the Spanish city, where the so-called Barcelona Process was launched in 1995 by the EU and its southern partners.

"It's a big disappointment for the Arabs," said Mohamed Sabreen, political analyst and columnist at the Cairo-based al-Ahram newspaper.

The Euromed partnership brings together the 25-nation EU with Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.

The Barcelona meeting, co-chaired by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Spanish counterpart Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, notably agreed on a Code of Conduct on fighting terrorism.

It also reiterated plans to set up a Euro-Mediterranean free trade zone by the end of the decade, agreed initiatives to clamp down on immigration and launched a five-year work plan for bolstering ties between the two regions.

But even before the summit opened the Arab states' attitute towards it was clear: only two bothered to send their leaders to Barcelona, Palestinian chief Mahmud Abbas and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"It's a message of frustration," Sabreen said.

"The intentions were noble but the results are very modest," said Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem, who on Sunday said it was "humiliating that the Europeans demand reforms from us in exchange for a few euros."

Europe, which Arab leaders have long counted on as a counter-weight to the United States' support for Israel in the Middle East, "didn't put enough pressure on Israel," the Algerian minister added.

The main sticking point at the talks was the Israel-Palestinian conflict: the anti-terror pact was agreed only after intense wrangling over Arab demands for recognition of the right of "resistance" against occupation.

"We shouldn't mix things up: resistance is a legitimate right recognized by the international community," said Egyptian Ahmed Abul Gheit.

"Wherever there is occupation there is resistance," added Arab League chief Amr Mussa.

Ahead of the Barcelona summit, European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso had called on Muslim leaders to do more to distance themselves from Islamist terrorism.

Although they all signed up to the anti-terror pact, Algeria's Belkhadem voiced concern that anti-Muslim sentiment lingers in Europe due to the growing terrorist threat since the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

"You have to make the distinction between terrorism and Islamophobia or Arabophobia," he said.

Tags: Morocco, Fes, Jihad, Terrorism,