Can the Union for the Mediterranean work ?

This March 13th French president Nicolas Sarkozy is presenting his controversial project of a Union for the Mediterranean in a European conference. After a diplomatic arm-wrestle, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel has managed to get all 27 EU members to remain united. The daily considers that this is therefore "a still-born project. Over the past ten years, the Barcelona process, intended to favour what is termed a 'Mediterranean dialogue', never got beyond the stage of good intentions and politically correct photographs. ... Sarkozy wanted to create a structure in which countries on the coast could benefit form European influence whilst avoiding the weight of the northern countries. It was naturally impossible to accept such an ambition which would have opened an institutional breach within the EU ... ."

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