Mediterranean Union Officially Launched

Heads of state from 43 countries launched the Mediterranean Union in Paris on Sunday. [Joint Declaration of the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean (July 13, 2008)]. Officially, the new body is called the "Barcelona Process: Union of the Mediterranean" in order to counter fears that the Med Union would become a rival to the EU's existing Barcelona Process. See The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership; Twelve Questions about the Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation: The Barcelona Process Explained; and Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean (Communication from the Commission to the European Parlament and the Council).

The Union's members include all 27 EU nations, the 12 Mediterranean countries which are members of the EU's Barcelona Process and the four Balkan countries bordering the Mediterranean. The main focus of the Med Union will include the following areas:

• Improving energy supply;
• Fighting pollution in the Mediterranean;
• Strengthening the surveillance of maritime traffic and "civil security cooperation"; and
• Creating a scientific community between Europe and its southern neighbors. 

See also: Lee Hudson Teslik's A Mediterranean Rendezvous (Council on Foreign Relations). [JH]