Turning to the policy level, in its communication to the Council of Ministers and the EP, the Commission indicated the priorities of the Second Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference that was agreed to take place in 1997. After reviewing the first 15 months of the EMP and the state of negotiations in the Association Agreements with the twelve Mediterranean partners, the Commission suggested several objectives for future co-operation [61]. It proposed a Euro-Mediterranean Charter for Peace and Stability to endorse the achievements of the first pillar, while on the question of social, cultural and human affairs, it reported that efforts had already begun in the spheres of cultural heritage, promotion of human rights, education and dialogue among civil society agents, and that these efforts should be intensified along with the taking of measures to combat drugs-traffic and organised crime. After the Declaration, the process moved forward through new Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements which updated and enhanced existing bilateral arrangements. In addition to the Customs Union with Turkey, new Association Agreements were signed with Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Morocco and Tunisia [62], while close to completion were those with Egypt and Algeria. Still though, no substantive progress has been achieved in third pillar issues. In particular, the 1997 Malta communiqué reported serious disagreements over language referring to human rights and referred only in passu to ‘the rule of law, democracy and human rights’ as commonly shared objectives. During 1997, many EU governments took up ratification of the new Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements that the EU had earlier initiated with Tunisia, Israel and Morocco. During the ratification process, parliamentarians and others raised questions of human rights compliance, particularly with reference to Israel, as specified in Article 2 of the Agreements. Several EU states indicated that they would seek to have the Commission set-up a human rights monitoring mechanism as part of the implementation process. But no EU member demanded human rights improvements from Israel, Tunisia or Morocco, as a condition for ratifying their respective Association Agreements. In 1997 the EU signed an interim Association Agreement with the Palestinian Authority and was scheduled to sign one with Jordan later in November, while negotiations continued with Egypt and Algeria. As EU and Syrian officials were about to open negotiations, the Council continued to suppress a November 1995 report on human rights in Syria that the EP had mandated as a pre-requite for economic assistance (along the lines of the conditionality principle).