Brussels, 07/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 6 December during a colloquy, German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, expressed a distinctly hostile position on the French Mediterranean Union project. During a speech focusing on Germany's capacity for action in Europe, Merkel affirmed, “I am very sceptical, I say this categorically”. She said that the proposed contained long term risks of the core of the European Union disintegrating and “creating forces of tension in the EU…which I don't want”. Ms Merkel asserted that, “If we say let's now build a Mediterranean Union in which neighbouring Mediterranean countries take part…but which use the financial instruments of the EU…I predict that the others will say, we also have to have a union of Eastern Europe, for example, with the Ukraine, and they can also use these funds. She added that, “something will happen that I deem to be extremely dangerous. It could transpire that Germany feels closer to Central and Eastern Europe and France closer to the Mediterranean Union”.
Merkel hammered home the fact that, “responsibility for the Mediterranean is also down to Northern Europe, as the future border with Russia and Ukraine is a matter that involves European countries on the Mediterranean”. Last July her foreign affairs minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, affirmed that the Mediterranean Union should not “compete” with the Barcelona process although it was not very satisfactory. He warned that, “We have to take care not to compete with each other in our neighbourhood policy”.
The Mediterranean Union should be “open to all…and approved by all”, exclaimed the German Chancellor speaking at the Elysée on Thursday evening for the 32nd informal Franco-German summit. She said that the Mediterranean was the concern of all Europeans. Her initial declarations were toned down some what when they appeared in Paris. The French press reported that, Nicolas Sarkozy appeared to have given her some formal assurances that other European countries would be involved in it to prevent risks of division opening up as the Chancellor warned. France and Germany will “work for a common proposal to involve all Europeans that want a Mediterranean Union”, announced Mr Sarkozy. During a joint press conference at the Elysée with Angela Merkel, Mr Sarkozy asked what Ms Merkel had said. Namely, what would the impact of the Mediterranean question have on the situation of all other European countries, notably countries in Europe that are not Mediterranean neighbours but who want to be able to help in setting up a zone of peace, selected immigration, co-development, and environmental protection”. He also stated that, “I do not see how France can complain if Germany wants, together with other European countries, to participate in a project because it considers it important, that would be curious”. Mr Merkel illustrated her scepticism by explaining that, “if, alongside the Mediterranean Union, Mediterranean neighbouring countries” are expected to set up a second totally different union, I would say that this risk causing difficult problems to Europe”. The German Chancellor concluded that, “We will have to make progress in these two close approaches”. (F.B.)