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7/14/08

Al Jazeera English -EU- Mediterranean realism triumphs - by Marwan Bishara

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EU- Mediterranean realism triumphs - by Marwan Bishara

The dream of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, to establish a union between Europe and its southern neighbours has finally seen the light, albeit in a somewhat deflated project. The July 13 summit of 40 leaders from the Mediterranean region in Paris was a major symbolic and diplomatic victory for French foreign policy which had long been thought to suffer from stagnation and paralysis. France managed to create a process of dialogue and cooperation during the summit despite the past European failure of adopting a single constitution and the breakdown of the Barcelona process, which by 2005 was meant to have created a north-south Mediterranean rapprochment, but was instead considered all but dead.

Moreover, the failure of America's New Middle East project to produce any tangible results beyond chaos and war, prompted even Washington's closest allies to come together under French auspices and embrace a union that demanded little of their governments.

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