Brussels to keep control of ‘Mediterranean Union’
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission on Tuesday (20 May) unveiled plans for a Mediterranean Union, taking care to emphasise its low-key vision for the new political set-up.
Rather than a radical shake-up of relations between the bloc and it southern neighbours, external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero Waldner said the proposals represented an “upgrade” in current relations and stressed that the EU’s 13-year-old relationship with Mediterranean countries - known as the Barcelona process - remained “valid.”
The new model will be formally launched on 13 July in Paris with a series of concrete projects, and foresees regular summits and ministerial meetings.
The commissioner noted: “It is very clear that this project is not directed against Turkey.”
When the idea for a new Mediterranean organisation was first floated last year by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who presented it as a far more dynamic and exclusive club, open only to states with a Mediterranean coastline, he tried to sell it as an alternative to EU membership for Turkey.
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The new union will bring together 44 countries, including the 27 EU member states as well as Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Israel, Libya, Syria, Turkey and Albania, plus Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Monaco.
The commission is suggesting that the structure be backed up by a new secretariat - the location of which remains to be decided - that will organise summits and help co-ordinate projects. The projects are to focus on areas such as infrastructure and the environment.
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De får det til at lyde som et nyt projekt, når vi ved, at det stammer helt tilbage til EAD fra 1970′erne. Og så skriver de med fokus på ‘infrastruktur og miljø’. Ikke et ord om de millioner af muslimer de regner med, der skal emigrere til Europa.
Velkommen Eurarabia.
Universalgeni