Brussels, 02/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - New Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Secretary General Fathallah Sijilmassi, the third in the space of two years, formally took up his post in Barcelona on Thursday 1 March.
Sijilmassi, former Moroccan ambassador to the European Union then to France before taking charge of promoting inward investment until his appointment to head the UfM, takes up his post only days after an EU Council decision significantly changed the nature of the organisation. Henceforth, the UfM is directly linked to the European institutions and Monday's decision on who will assume the northern or European joint presidency breaks with the inter-governmental approach followed thus far by the French joint-presidency. The lack of detail of the remit given to the UfM secretary general by the founding ministerial conference in Marseilles in 2008 has been a source of such friction between the head of the organisation and the Committee of Senior Officials (which brings together the 43 member states, including the 27 EU members), the highest advisory and decision-making body, that the first Ahmed Massa'da of Jordan resigned and the second Youssef Amrani of Morocco was constantly under fire for seeking to play a political role that was outside his remit.
The appointment of Sijilmassi coincides with this new situation and it would seem very likely that his function will be confined to seeking funding for joint projects. It will be for EU High Representative Catherine Ashton to answer the oft-posed question: what is to be done with a body that duplicates the work of her own organisation and also of the European Commission's external units, and which cost €6 million per year? The answer is still awaited. (FB/transl.rt)