Brussels, 12/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - Spain is involved in contacting the other members of the EU and countries of the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean (less Syria) in order to organise a ministerial meeting to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Barcelona Process. The Process was created in November 1995 and was transformed into the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) in 2008. Libya is not part of the UfM countries - which, including the 28 EU member states, number 43.
The ministerial meeting will reportedly take place on 26 November. This would be the second ministerial meeting since the one held informally in April.
The backdrop is marked by the continuing conflicts on the shores of the Mediterranean with their accompanying political and security instability. It is also marked by the refugee and migrant crisis, and the economic and social slump in Europe and the Mediterranean. According to Spanish media, a further very localised element of friction is added to this. “In the midst of the challenge for independence in Catalonia, the foreign affairs minister is continuing” his contacts and drawing up his invitations, according to Spanish daily newspaper ABC. The ministerial meeting on 13 April was marked by a conflict for pre-eminence between the Catalan authority (which contributes by offering its Pedralbes building as the headquarters of the UfM) and the government of Madrid. On the sidelines of this informal meeting, demonstrations took place in the streets in front of the Pedralbes building. (Original version in French by Fathi B'Chir)