The difficult birth of the MedUnion

Following the meeting of foreign ministers' of the countries of the Union for the Mediterranean in Marseille Le Monde describes the difficult birth of the institution: "The conception of the MedUnion was a difficult process, but thanks to the summit meeting of 44 heads of state and government in Paris one day before [the French national holiday] July 14th, 2008, its birth was a wonderful event. Its first steps were shaky, but the foreign ministers of the participating countries have managed ... to overcome the obstacles ... above all the question of where the secretary-general's headquarters should be: Brussels, Valetta, Tunis or Barcelona? The French wanted to make their friend, Tunisian President Ben Ali, happy. The Spanish wanted Barcelona because in 1995 the Barcelona Process [the forerunner of the MedUnion] was initiated there ... The other serious obstacle pertained to relations between the Israelis and the Arab countries. The former did not want the Arab League to be allowed to participate as a full member. But in the end they accepted this in return for the post of deputy secretary-general."

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