Mediterranean Union proposal 'to focus on projects'

France has apparently switched to reverse gear over its controversial proposal to launch a Mediterranean Union, with one senior official saying it will focus on concrete projects and function on a purely voluntary basis. Turkey in particular had criticised the idea as offering a disguised alternative to full EU membership.

EU foreign affairs ministers gave a "positive" reception to Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to launch a Mediterranean Union but only "if it can bring added value to what is already happening in the framework of EuroMed", said a senior French official on a visit to Brussels on 8 November. "The project…does not aim to be a substitute for the EuroMed partnership," the official said in a debriefing to journalists after a meeting of Euro-Mediterranean Foreign Affairs ministers in Lisbon last week.

The proposal, first aired by Nicolas Sarkozy during the presidential campaign, is still at drafting stage with a paper due to be presented to the Commission this month. But the idea had raised concerns in Ankara after Sarkozy said he favoured a "privileged partnership" with Turkey instead of full EU membership. "[The Mediterranean Union] is not an alternative to EU accession, I say it in a very clear manner," said the senior official, who was speaking off the record.

Concerning practical arrangements, he said the proposed Union would be assisted by "a light secretariat" but that the overall structure "should stay light, based on projects only". "Union is a symbolic term more than a reality," he added, in an apparent departure from earlier suggestions by Sarkozy to establish a permanent EuroMed council similar to the Council of Europe.

Specific project steering bodies would be set up on an ad hoc basis, he explained, saying that they will seek involvement of companies based on the public-private partnerships model. He cited water management, coastline protection, SME policy and civil protection as examples of possible agencies.

Funding for individual projects would be provided by international organisations such as the World Bank, the European Investment Bank and other regional organisations in the Gulf area. EU funds would only be used "in respect of community criteria" and as a complement to existing programmes, he said.

Voluntary participation by sovereign states would be the "core" of the Union, the official said, insisting that the European Commission would be a full member along with the Arab League. A conference of Mediterranean heads of state and government, to take place in 2008, could be followed up by regular meetings in a sort of "G-Med".

Euractive