Vintage

Med Union seat decision put off to November

The controversial issue of which member country of the new Mediterranean Union (MU) will host its seat has been postponed until November in the absence of an agreement between the 43 participating states.

After the summit in Paris yesterday, senior EU diplomats said there were "very slim" chances that the secretariat will be hosted in Malta.

The seat issue did not even appear on the agenda of yesterday's summit as talks at senior official level held in Brussels last week indicated there is still a long way to go before a compromise is reached.

EU diplomats said that the only decision taken so far is that the summit is not the appropriate forum where such a decision is made. Thus, the matter will now be discussed in November and possibly decided upon during a Med Union Foreign Affairs Ministers' meeting in Marseilles.

Malta is one of the contenders to host the Med Union's secretariat together with Tunisia and Morocco. A last-minute move by Spain last week to nominate another candidate - Barcelona - is being viewed as another blow to Malta's chances.

"Given the fact that Barcelona was the place where all this started (the Euro Med Process), Spain has made a very good move," sources said.

"As the Med Union will basically take over from the so-called Barcelona Process, it will be seen as 'politically correct' to give the Spanish something back for what is indirectly being taken away from them,' the sources added.

Another problem for Malta, according to the EU diplomats, is the lack of lobbying on its side.

"Although Malta has said that it wants to host the secretariat we are not really seeing any enthusiasm from Valletta on this issue," a senior EU diplomat involved in the talks told The Times.

"We are not really feeling any lobbying blitz on Malta's side as is normally done on such occasions. Another important thing is that Malta should try to win over the endorsement of the Commission, something which it had not really tried to do,' the official commented.

France is more likely to push Tunisia while many in the Commission have already taken Spain's side.

Despite the four candidacies, it is not being excluded that the secretariat will remain in Brussels together with the other administrative services of the EU. Many Commission officials are of the opinion that this will send the message that the new Union is just a continuation of the Euro Med Process and not a completely new mechanism, as the French would like it to be.

Six priority projects:

1. Environment: Combating pollution in the Mediterranean - Horizon 2020 project will be launched to clean up the Mediterranean until 2020.

2. Transport: A project to develop maritime highways linking eastern and western Mediterranean regions through the improved connection of ports and specific action to reinforce maritime security.

3. Civil protection: Development of a civil protection network enabling enhanced pooling of resources to combat and prevent natural disasters including fires, earthquakes and tsunamis.

4. Alternative energy: Drawing up a Mediterranean solar plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the vulnerability of the energy system and improve the access of isolated communities to energy.

5. Education and research: Creation of a Mediterranean University and research area through the development of networks among universities, research centres and science academies.

6. Business: An initiative to encourage the development of micro, small and medium sized enterprises that will offer technical assistance programmes and support from financial institutions.