Spain now proposes Mediterranean Union
Spain's foreign minister has proposed a Mediter-ranean Union, an idea first suggested by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, with fully fledged institutions along the lines of the European Union. "The moment has arrived ... to build a real geopolitical space through the establishment of a Mediter-ranean Union," Miguel Angel Moratinos wrote in an article in yesterday's El Pais, a prominent Spanish daily. A union comprising EU states and Mediterranean countries should have a council of heads of state and government that would set strategic policy guidelines, ministerial councils, a Permanent Commission to act as a secretariat, a reinforced parliamentary assembly and even its own bank, he said. "The organization would help the region tackle challenges ranging from environmental issues to immigration."
Moratinos' comments follow a meeting of foreign ministers from Mediterranean EU countries in Slovenia this month, which discussed expanding the existing Barcelona Process of regular meetings between EU member states and Mediterranean states.
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