Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (center) poses with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana (right) and Dutch PM Jan Peter Balkenende during a 35-nation EuroMed summit in Barcelona yesterday.

BARCELONA (AFP) - Europe agreed upon a pact on fighting terrorism with its mostly Muslim southern neighbors yesterday, but tensions persisted after a Euro-Mediterranean summit that was clouded by the absence of most Arab leaders.

Discord over the definition of terrorism marked the two-day gathering, which was portrayed by the European Union as a bid to revitalize a 10-year-old partnership with its Mediterranean-rim partners.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, co-hosting the summit with his Spanish counterpart Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, hailed the accord on a Code of Conduct on fighting terrorism after extended wrangling over the wording.

“Terrorism can never be justified,” Blair said while addressing a news conference to close the summit. “This is a very important moment both for the European countries and for our other colleagues round the table.” He added, “Definitional issues will run their course.” The summit also agreed upon a raft of initiatives to combat illegal immigration, while fostering legal migration flows as a means of allowing wealth to flow from north to south.

Zapatero, who on Sunday attended the inaugural UN high-level session of his “alliance of civilizations,” said the summiteers favored “regulated, ordered, well-managed migration, and Barcelona has taken important steps to that end.” The summit of the 25 EU states and their 10 Mediterranean-rim and Mideast neighbors also agreed on a five-year work plan to cement relations between the two regional groups.

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said that Europe was “now building a bridge to the south,” having held firm during the Cold War until the barriers between Western and Eastern Europe disappeared. But Arab delegations expressed frustration that terrorism and immigration bumped economic development down the list of priorities.

“We find it humiliating that the Europeans demand reforms from us in exchange for a few euros,” said Algerian Minister of State Abdelaziz Belkhadem.

But for the Europeans the centerpiece of the summit was the anti-terror code of conduct.

“We confirm that we will condemn terrorism in all its manifestations without qualification (and) reject any attempts to associate terrorism with any nature, culture or religion,” said the two-page pact.