BRUSSELS (EJP)---The European Commission has unveiled its proposals to give renewed vitality and visibility to the EU’s relations with its partners in the Mediterranean region.
The new plan is to complete the so-called "Barcelona process" launched in 1995 in order to strengthen the EU’s relations with its southern neighbours but which critics say has so far failed to deliver, mainly because of the lack of Israeli-Palestinian peace but also because of the Mediterranean governments' poor record in using the EU funds on offer.
The downsizing of the original plan came after EU countries with no borders on the Mediterranean, in particular Germany, expressed skepticism at the proposal, with member states from Eastern Europe particularly concerned that it would divert precious EU funds away from their region.
The news proposals focus on raising the profile of relations with 13 Mediterranean rim countries with a regular summit and ministerial meetings, and would see a new forum to be launched at an inaugural summit in Paris on July 13-14 with a raft of projects.
This new forum, called "Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean," will unite 44 countries.
They include the 27 EU states and 13 partners: Albania, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Tunisia, Syria and Turkey -- plus Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro and Monaco.
The forum would be managed by a co-presidency involving one European and one partner nation, but all 27 EU countries will be eligible under the commission's plans, not just those around the Mediterranean as France had hoped.
"This is an initiative to reinforce, to reinvigorate our relationship," External Relations European Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said.
"The more we can develop the region in the South, the less illegal migration there will be…The more prosperity we can give, the less terrorism, the less criminality will be there," she said.
But the association described by the EU falls short of what France -- and in particular French President Nicolas Sarkozy who initiated the ambitious plan of a Mediterreanean Union nicknamed "Club Med"-- had envisioned.
Sarkozy had touted his vision as a potential avenue for peace between Israel and the Palestinians and had hinted it might be offered to Turkey as an alternative to EU membership.
The downsizing of the original plan came after EU countries with no borders on the Mediterranean, in particular Germany, expressed skepticism at the proposal, with member states from Eastern Europe particularly concerned that it would divert precious EU funds away from their region.
Turkey only agreed to participate to the new structure if offered assurances that the Union was not being put forward as an alternative to joining the EU, something the EU Commission explicitly stated. "This project is not directed against Turkey," Ferrero-Waldner said.
"It will take stronger political will, in both sides of the Mediterranean, to seize this opportunity to enhance understanding, peace and prosperity among all our nations, cultures and religions, for the benefit of our citizens," European Commission President, José Manuel Barroso, said.