French President Nicolas Sarkozy convened a summit of some 40 foreign leaders to launch a new union between Europe and Mediterranean countries in Paris on July 13.
Heads of state and government from the European, Middle Eastern and North African countries of the strategic Mediterranean Rim attended the event.
The Union for the Mediterranean was an idea championed by Sarkozy in his presidential campaign last year, inspired by the Barcelona Process created in 1995. This year's summit was co-chaired by President Sarkozy and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
The union will hold one summit every two years. It will establish a co-presidency made up of an EU nation and a non-EU nation, and a permanent secretariat.
The union will concentrate on regional cooperation projects, including environmental protection in the Mediterranean, development of solar energy and water management, solutions to increasing natural hazards and infrastructure and transport deficits; economic and social development programs and higher education and research programs.
Some experts cast doubt on the future of the new organization. Since its inception, what has come to be known as Sarkozy's "pet project" has drawn criticism from northern Mediterranean leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who fear that the project could lead to sharp divisions between EU member states bordering the Mediterranean and its allies further north.
"But, the project has now the semblance of some sort of an enhanced version of the current and inefficient Barcelona Process, which defines relations between the EU and its neighbors," said one European diplomat.
Merkel has, however, succeeded in her demand that the new union be an extension of Spain's Barcelona Process that called for close cooperation between EU and 12 states on the south and east of Mediterranean.
Spain fears the new project might spell the end of the Barcelona Process. However, Madrid has softened its stand toward the French move after Sarkozy assured that he would only strive to complement the Barcelona Process.
Another cause of concern is the differences in the economic and political levels of member states. As a French economist said, the yawning gap between the EU members and the countries on the eastern and southern rims of Mediterranean would be a serious obstacle to forging commonly acceptable policies for the Union for the Mediterranean. If the union, for instance, decides to make a free trade zone, it would force the southern and eastern states of the Mediterranean to open their borders to huge European companies. It would also bring up problems such as the massive rural migration to the densely populated cities, especially in the Arab member countries, the French economist noted.
Egypt strongly supports the union. Mutually beneficial relations with European countries have been a marked feature of Egypt's foreign policy.
