Brussels, 11/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - During their monthly meeting in Barcelona on 6 April, the high ranking officials in charge of the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue adopted the core texts which should finally allow the General Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) to operate: the staff regulations for its employees and service providers, its financial procedure for the funding of projects, and the method of collecting the contributions of the 43 member countries, in addition to that of the European Commission, to its operating budget. In all, €4.5 million is effectively available - €3 million from the Community budget and the remainder from the countries of the northern Mediterranean. No country from the southern rim has made its contribution.
In theory, scrutiny of the projects on the priority list should now begin. The secretariat has other obstacles to overcome, however, including the re-definition of its role within a UfM whose political function and institutional framework (purely inter-governmental or linked to the European institution and dependent on available budgetary resources) are still under discussion. The uncertainty over the structural developments of the UfM, in addition to the political background - democratic uprisings and underlying crisis in the Middle East - in the region demand caution in how the decisions taken in Barcelona are interpreted.
In addition, the post of secretary general still remains to be filled and the deadline for nominations, originally set for the end of March, has been extended by a month. Tunisia is thought to have been sounded out for this post. (F.B./transl.rt)