Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Mediterranean Union: Sarkozy sells a mirage
The French president's project for Mediterranean cooperation has much to do with positioning France next to the US and little to do with Arab interests, writes Hassan Nafaa*
The heads of state of the European Union and of southern Mediterranean countries are scheduled to meet in Paris on 13 and 14 July. Their summit is expected to conclude with the proclamation of the establishment of a new international grouping called the "Union for the Mediterranean". It is perhaps premature to predict whether the new entity will be able to produce a qualitative shift in a historically shaky relationship between the two banks of the Mediterranean and thereby succeed where the "Barcelona process", set into motion in 1995, has failed so far. However, it is possible to note some opportunities for the new project and some obstacles that may mar its path. In order to identify these we must bear in mind some important facts as follows.
Sarkozy's original project, which was to be called the Mediterranean Union, was to create a more powerful institutional framework than the so-called Barcelona process. Its membership was to be restricted to countries bordering the Mediterranean. The project was a product of Sarkozy's European policy that aims, firstly, to halt the expansion of the EU in order to preserve its Christian identity, which translates into keeping Turkey out of it, and, secondly, to position France so it can play a leading role in a European Union that is more powerful and effective politically and militarily and less bureaucratically cumbersome at the social and economic levels. Sarkozy believes that France's leadership of a new formula -- partnership between Mediterranean countries -- will help it achieve these two aims.
More
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/905/op3.htm
Sarkozy's original project, which was to be called the Mediterranean Union, was to create a more powerful institutional framework than the so-called Barcelona process. Its membership was to be restricted to countries bordering the Mediterranean. The project was a product of Sarkozy's European policy that aims, firstly, to halt the expansion of the EU in order to preserve its Christian identity, which translates into keeping Turkey out of it, and, secondly, to position France so it can play a leading role in a European Union that is more powerful and effective politically and militarily and less bureaucratically cumbersome at the social and economic levels. Sarkozy believes that France's leadership of a new formula -- partnership between Mediterranean countries -- will help it achieve these two aims.
More
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/905/op3.htm
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$140.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network
Mohamed Abul-Einin, head of the Egyptian- European Council, said that the proposed union aims to build on the Barcelona Process, launched in 1995, which aimed to improve cooperation on economic, political and cultural levels, but has little to show for it. It is really an attempt to coordinate the economic needs of the southern Mediterranean states and find ways for the northern states to help them. "Egypt will play a vital role in identifying with the southern states the projects they need, and suggest how the northern states could finance them. This opens many fields of cooperation and investment between the north and south," Abul-Einin said. It is also a chance to solve many problems like illegal immigration, terrorism and the discrepancy of income between north and south.
The main obstacle was a threat of boycott, but now most of the states that initially declined to attend the inaugural summit have agreed to attend. The last head of state who declared that he would attend was the Algerian President Abdul- Aziz Bouteflika. After a meeting with Sarkozy on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit in Japan on Monday, the French president declared that his Algerian counterpart would attend. This was the first time that Bouteflika clearly declared his intention to attend the summit although Sarkozy repeatedly tried to convince him to attend, paying him an official visit and later dispatching top officials including his Prime Minister François Fillon to Algeria.
More
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/905/re4.htm