Brussels, 27/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - The Socialist Group at the European Parliament fully supports the idea of reinforcing the Barcelona process, as decided at the last European Council (EUROPE 9623) but is calling for reflection on a similar initiative in the east of the EU. As part of strengthening the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue, now called the “Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean”, the EU must not forget the other axes of its neighbourhood policy. In a press release published on Thursday 27 March, the president of the PES, Martin Schulz stressed, “the Eastern dimension should be given equal weighting to the Mediterranean dimension”. The vice-president, Hannes Swoboda, affirmed that, “for us, the Union for the Mediterranean must be accompanied by an EU-Black Sea Union…We will not accept discrimination” against the Black Sea area. During the summit on 13-14 March, the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, announced that during the next European Council, he wanted to makes some proposals in this direction. (A.B.)