Rome / Brussels, 21/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - Meeting on Thursday 20 December in the Italian capital, Nicolas Sarkozy, Romano Prodi and José Luis Zapatero launched the “Appeal of Rome”, calling for the creation of a Mediterranean Union (MU) made up of the states on both sides of the Mediterranean, and a “summit” to be held on 13 July 2008 in Paris during the French EU presidency (and not in June as initially announced).
During a joint press conference, the French president and the Italian and Spanish prime ministers sought to create the same spirit and mood for their vision of a political union bringing “peace and development” to both sides of the Mediterranean as that in which the Treaty of Rome took place in 1957, leading to the creation of the European Community. “Convinced that the Mediterranean, which is the birthplace of culture and civilisation, must resume its role as an area of peace, prosperity and tolerance”, they state in the Appeal of Rome that they are united in their aim to reflect together on the broad lines of the proposal for a Mediterranean Union. The Union, they say, will aim to bring Europe and Africa together around the Mediterranean rim countries and establish a partnership on an equal footing between the countries of the Mediterranean rim. It will, they say, be the “heart and driving force of cooperation in the Mediterranean and for the Mediterranean” and will aim at making “the actions that the different institutions develop in favour of the Mediterranean clearer and more visible”. This new Union, the Appeal goes on to say, does not aim to be a substitute for the cooperation and dialogue procedures that already exist in the Mediterranean region, but aims rather to complement them, and give them fresh impetus. The MU will “interfere neither in the process of stabilisation and association of the countries concerned, nor in the process of negotiation underway between the European Union and Croatia, on one hand, and between the EU and Turkey, on the other”.
According to the French president cited by Radio Vatican during an official visit when he recalled the duty of stressing the Christian roots of Europe, the future for France and for Europe “is to be played out in the Mediterranean”. Speaking of coal and steel and the need for peace and stability to motivate the creation of a united Europe, the peoples of the Mediterranean have, he said, the right to unite for peace, development and the environment. It is in the Mediterranean that there will be the “best peace or the worst war”. All the rim countries must be a part, including Turkey. It is “a great people but it is not in Europe”, he said. (F.B.)