Brussels Outlines Plan For New Mediterranean Club

BRUSSELS, May 14 – The European Commission has begun to look at the possible set-up for the planned Mediterranean union by trying to breathe life into current bilateral relations between the EU and Mediterranean countries while avoiding an unwieldy new political organization.
An internal paper discussed last week in EU commissioners’ cabinets, suggests the new relationship has to be a “multilateral partnership” and “encompass all member states of the European Union.”
It suggests summits at head of state and government level twice a year with the first official one to take place in Paris on 13 July, when France has the EU presidency.
This maiden summit is to formally create the “Barcelona Process – A Union for the Mediterranean” and establish the union’s “structures and principle goals.”
The summit’s conclusions should include “a political declaration” and a short list of “concrete projects to be put in place” all of which should be agreed by consensus.
The Union for the Mediterranean which envisages working on a series of issues that affect both the EU and these southern countries including immigration, security and environment issues, is to have a co-presidency and a new secretariat.
The EU would be represented by the EU foreign policy chief and the president of the commission and of the European Council, while Mediterranean countries would have to choose their side by consensus. The co-president would have a mandate of two years.
The new set-up is supposed to include all countries involved in the current Barcelona Process – Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Palestinian Authority, Israel, Libya, Syria, Turkey and Albania – as well as other Mediterranean states – Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Monaco.
The commission is soon to present its ideas on the Union for the Mediterranean to member states and the European Parliament. The project will then be formally discussed by EU leaders at a Brussels summit next month.