EU:FRENCH PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel presented a joint plan to create a new "Union for the Mediterranean" last night, insisting it would not undermine the EU.
The controversial proposal for a new "UM", outlined to EU leaders at a two-day summit here, follows months of acrimonious debate between Germany and France over a body which Berlin and several northern European states fear could create tensions in the EU.
The draft plan envisages setting up a new body to boost ties with European, African and Middle Eastern states that border the Mediterranean. Headed by two rotating co-chairs - one from an EU state and one from a non-EU state - the UM would also have a secretariat with 20 staff and two directors, who would "play a driving role in defining new projects and monitoring ongoing projects", according to a position paper seen by The Irish Times.
EU leaders arriving at the summit gave a guarded welcome to the plan, although some complained it lacked substance. EU commission president José Manuel Barroso said it was a very good idea to have more commitment to the Mediterranean.
"At the same time, it is important that all member states of the EU are engaged in it. So it seems now the conditions are there to move forward," Mr Barroso told reporters.
Finnish prime minister Matti Vanhanen highlighted the lack of practical content in the plan. "We have the title and not very much about what it will mean. We are very curious to have something about the substance," he said before the summit.
The Union for the Mediterranean proposal is the brainchild of Mr Sarkozy, who advanced the idea during a press conference on the night of his presidential election victory on May 6th. He later developed the idea in a speech in Tangiers in October, where he said the new union would be based on a political, economic and cultural union of the coastal states of the Mediterranean.
The potential exclusion from such a political body of those EU states that do not border the Mediterranean immediately raised suspicions among countries in northern Europe. Germany, in particular, publicly criticised the French proposal, a move that exacerbated tensions between Mr Sarkozy and Dr Merkel and threatened the new union's political viability. Other states also expressed concerns that it would soak up EU funds available under an existing strategy called the Barcelona Process, which was set up in 1995.
One senior British official said making a political commitment to the Mediterranean region was fine but it shouldn't divert funds south or create new alternative political structures to the EU.
The commission also has concerns that the new union would simply replicate the existing Barcelona Process and undermine its own role in the region. Up to €16 billion of EU and private funding may be available for projects in the Mediterranean region and the commission is anxious that a new union should not manage these EU funding programmes.
Turkey also initially rejected the idea of joining the new union, fearing that Mr Sarkozy was simply attempting to create an alternative body for it to join rather than the EU.
But following extensive consultations between French and German officials over the past few months, Mr Sarkozy's plan has been significantly watered down.
The paper presented to EU leaders is light on detail, amounting to just over one page of content, which suggests a lot more work needs to be done before the project gets off the ground.
For example, there is no mention of the type of projects that the new union would pursue, although previous French papers highlighted migration and agriculture.
Paris has already pencilled in an EU leaders' summit in France for July 13th to launch the new union. Given that Berlin is now on board, the project is likely to get political approval.
Diplomats from northern EU states are sceptical about its likely impact. But the idea has gained support from influential think tanks such as the Centre for European policy Studies in Brussels, which released a research paper yesterday saying the union may have been "poorly conceived" but could streamline the EU's confusing policy in the Mediterranean region.