About: Barcelona process
Better future for the Euro-Mediterranean region continues to inspire
Twenty-five years ago, the Barcelona Process was launched in an effort to construct a zone of shared prosperity around the Euro-Mediterranean area. President of the Committee of the Regions Apostolos Tzitzikostas looks at the progress made and challenges left to overcome.
Arab diplomat to lead EU’s ‘Club Med’
Paris has confirmed that a Jordanian is set to become the first secretary-general of the Union of the Mediterranean, the EU regional project launched in 2008 under the French EU Presidency, the Spanish press reports.
France’s Club Med plan ‘half-frozen’
Nine months after French President Nicolas Sarkozy launched the Union for the Mediterranean, little seems to have actually happened. Robert del Picchia, a French senator and member of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, explained why in an interview with EURACTIV France.
Spain strikes diplomatic victory with MedUnion seat
After a four-month diplomatic struggle, foreign ministers agreed that Barcelona would host the headquarters of the newly-created Union for the Mediterranean, sought by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to foster cooperation between the EU and its southern and Middle Eastern neighbours and ultimately establish a Euro-Mediterranean free trade area by 2010.
Paris summit inaugurates ‘Mediterranean Union’
Heads of state from 43 countries launched the Mediterranean Union on Sunday, breathing life into a project dear to French President Nicolas Sarkozy which initially drew heavy criticism from his European partners.
Interview: Summit to delay big decisions on ‘Club Med’
The summit that will launch Nicolas Sarkozy's pet project of a Mediterranean Union in Paris this Sunday will be "a social event" for heads of state rather than a decision-making meeting, says Dorothée Schmid, a specialist in Euro-Mediterranean relations at the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI) in Paris. She spoke to EURACTIV France in an interview.
Researcher: ‘Not clear’ who will finance Med Union projects
The summit that will launch Nicolas Sarkozy's pet project of a Mediterranean Union in Paris this Sunday will be "a social event" for heads of state rather than a decision-making meeting, says Dorothée Schmid, a specialist in Euro-Mediterranean relations at the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI) in Paris. She spoke to EURACTIV France in an interview.The Barcelona Process and the Mediterranean Union: Possibilities for the future
The Union for the Mediterranean "constitutes an opportunity to relaunch Euro-Mediterranean integration," writes World Bank consultant Jean-François Jamet for the Fondation Robert Schuman.
EU foreign policy ‘undermined’ by flurry of national initiatives
Following France's example with the EuroMed proposal, Poland and Sweden are due to present an 'Eastern Initiative' at a meeting next week, in a move which diplomats warned could ruin the EU's patient efforts to craft a common external policy.
Commission further waters down Med Union proposal
Not much is left of high-flying French plans for a 'Union for the Mediteranean' as the Commission yesterday presented its proposals on the initiative, allaying fears that it would be a closed club directed against Turkey.
EU to intensify relations with most ambitious neigbours
The Commission is to reward the best-performing countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) with an upgrade in bilateral ties, including an increase in financial assistance, External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said at a press conference yesterday (3 April).Making sense of Sarkozy’s Union for the Mediterranean
French President Nicolas Sarkozy's initiative on the Mediterranean should be seen as "an opportunity to rationalise and revitalise" the EU's present policy towards the Mediterranean, which is stuck "in a condition of laborious lethargy", writes Michael Emerson from the Centre for European Studies (CEPS).
Summit approves ‘Union for the Mediterranean’
EU leaders have given the green light to a compromise, struck by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, to create a 'Union for the Mediterranean', an initiative aimed at upgrading the EU's relations with its neighbours from North Africa and the Middle East.
Germany and France reach agreement on Mediterranean Union
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has lent support to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's desire to create a Mediterranean Union, receiving in exchange his assurance that it would be a project for all 27 member states.Germany and France reach agreement on Mediterranean Union
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has lent support to French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s idea for creating a Mediterranean Union, but in exchange received his assurance, that this will be project of all 27 member states.