|
France hosts
Mediterranean summit
The summit will take place in the opulent Grand Palais
Leaders of EU and Mediterranean rim countries are gathering
in Paris to launch a Union for the Mediterranean.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is hosting leaders from 42
nations, to discuss issues including regional unrest, immigration and
pollution.
France says the new union could send a "wind of
hope" through the region.
Progress has already been made. Mr Sarkozy announced on
Saturday that Syria and Lebanon had agreed to set up embassies in each other's
capitals.
Lebanon and Syria have not had fully-fledged embassies in
each other's countries since both gained independence from colonial rule in the
1940s. Relations between the two have been strained since Lebanon's former PM
Rafik Hariri was assassinated in 2005 - an attack which Lebanon claims Syria
was involved in.
But after Mr Sarkozy held talks with Lebanon's President
Michel Suleiman and then Syria's leader Bashar Assad, he announced the
establishment of embassies and hailed the moment as an "historic step
forward".
The French president also asked Mr Assad to use his ties
with Iran to help resolve the international stand-off over Tehran's nuclear
ambitions.
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to use the summit
to recommend increasing EU sanctions on Zimbabwe's leadership, following the
rejection of a sanctions resolution by the UN Security Council.
Mr Sarkozy has long spearheaded the idea of a Union for the
Mediterranean.
He recently claimed the grouping could transform the Mediterranean
region into an area of peace and prosperity.
Lacking substance?
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Saturday
that a "wind of hope" in the Middle East.
But he added: "I regret to say discussions between
Israelis and Palestinians are not part of it so far."
Mr Sarkozy has already made progress with the leaders of
Syria and Lebanon
Critics have dismissed the new union as lacking substance,
and diplomats say there continues to be disagreements over key issues such as
how to address the Middle East peace process and a possible role for the Arab
League.
BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says that
although some French newspapers have written off the scheme as a kind of
"showy multilateralism" in tune with President Sarkozy's showy
life-style, it is in fact a serious attempt to re-energise France's role in the
Middle East - and by extension Europe's .
However there are many longstanding rivalries between
delegations - such as Israel and Syria; Syria and Lebanon; and Israel and the
Palestinians.
There were also fears that Turkey might not co-operate,
because of fears that the union might be used as an alternative to EU
membership for Ankara - which Mr Sarkozy has long opposed.
However Turkey's foreign minister said on Saturday that his
government would play an active role in the union.
The only European or Mediterranean rim leader expected to
boycott the Paris meeting is Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, who has
described the union as a new form of colonialism.
Mr Sarkozy's original plan was to create a grouping reserved
just for Mediterranean rim states.
But the plan had to be amended and its agenda watered down
after opposition from other EU states, notably Germany, which wanted to be
involved.
France and Egypt plan to co-chair the new organisation for
the first few years.
|
Europe