Mediterranean Union holds first summit

Yvette Morrison
For Al-Shorfa.com
2008-08-08

Heads of state attend the Union for the Mediterranean founding summit, on July 13, at the Grand Palais in Paris. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and 42 leaders launched a union between Europe and its Mediterranean neighbours. (AFP/Getty Images)

Forty-two European and Mediterranean heads of state met on July 13 in Paris to open the first Union of the Mediterranean summit. Participating nations, including 27 members of the EU and 17 from the southern and eastern rim, discussed a range of issues, primarily Middle East peace, economic development, energy policy, and immigration.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy spearheaded the Union’s creation, telling international media the group would not be “north against south, not Europe against the rest […] but united.”

The Mediterranean Union includes 756 million people, spanning from Western Europe to the Jordanian desert and over through North Africa.

High on the Union’s agenda were the Palestinian and Israeli peace negotiations, with both Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in attendance – each affirming their commitment to reaching a peaceful settlement. Olmert said the two sides had “never been as close to the possibility of an agreement.”

Alongside summit co-chair Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who is expected to play a central role in on-going negotiations between the Syrians and the Lebanese, Sarkozy urged both Israelis and Palestinians to end the cycle of violence.

The French president also reached out to Syria, urging President Bashar al-Assad to join in the summit proceedings. Former French President Jacques Chirac severed ties with Syria in 2005 after its implicit role in the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Syria has recently engaged with Israel through indirect talks mediated by Turkey. Syria, which has formally been at war with Israel since 1948, demands the return of the Golan Heights, while Israel insists Syria sever ties with Iran and cease all backing of Lebanese and Palestinian fighters.

(From L) European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Egypt's President and summit co-chairman Hosni Mubarak, France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, and Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon give a joint press conference at the end of the Union for the Mediterranean founding summit, on July 13, at the Grand Palais in Paris. (Photo by DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images)

Al-Assad and Olmert sat at the same table during negotiations, but neither engaged directly. The Syrian president later said that he was ready for “normal” relations with Israel.

According to Kareem Mahmoud Kamel, a professor of Political Science at the American University in Cairo, “Sarkozy is not genuinely interested in bringing Syria out of its international isolation, but he is trying to woo [the country] away from the Iran-Hezbollah-Hamas axis through the lure of economic partnership with Europe. By wooing Syria away from Iran and providing it with economic incentives and hopes for peace with Israel, the West hopes that a ‘softer’ policy might bring about a change in Syria’s commitment to Iran.”

The summit did see Syria and Lebanon leaders both agree to establish embassies in their respective capitals for the first time. The agreement implies Syrian recognition of Lebanese sovereignty, which, if the agreement holds true, would prove a significant diplomatic success.

Critics see the summit as lacking substance and future direction, and have accused Sarkozy and other participant leaders of grandstanding.

Other analysts credit Sarkozy for engaging with Syria. “[He] has been able to engage not only with the Israelis and Palestinians, but also with the Syrians (and to a lesser extent the Libyans), which is something the U.S. has been reluctant to do,” says Charles Robert Davidson, a professor of International Law at the American University in Cairo.

Given that this is the first summit, many observers are reserving judgment.

“It seems that it is too soon to tell whether the Union will be of any real [importance],” Davidson says. “Maybe its chief value lies in its ability to simply bring parties together — however loosely — who might otherwise have had even less engagement with each other. If the various countries can come together to tackle, on a regional basis, the challenges they confront, so much the better.”

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