Union for the Mediterranean
The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM; French: Union pour la Méditerranée, Arabic: الإتحاد من أجل المتوسط Al-Ittiḥād min ajl al-Mutawasseṭ) is an intergovernmental organization of 43 member states from Europe and the Mediterranean Basin: the 27 EU member states (including those not on the Mediterranean) and 16 Mediterranean partner countries from North Africa, Western Asia and Southern Europe. It was founded on 13 July 2008 at the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean, with an aim of reinforcing the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (Euromed) that was set up in 1995 as the Barcelona Process. Its general secretariat is located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
Formation
13 July 2008
Barcelona, Spain
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Albania -
Algeria -
Austria -
Belgium -
Bosnia and Herzegovina -
Bulgaria -
Croatia -
Cyprus -
Czechia -
Denmark -
Egypt -
Estonia -
Finland -
France -
Germany -
Greece -
Hungary -
Ireland -
Israel -
Italy -
Jordan -
Latvia -
Lebanon -
Lithuania -
Luxembourg -
Malta -
Mauritania -
Monaco -
Montenegro -
Morocco -
Netherlands -
North Macedonia -
Palestine -
Poland -
Portugal -
Romania -
Slovakia -
Slovenia -
Spain -
Sweden -
Syria (Self-suspended) -
Tunisia -
Turkey
The Union has the aim of promoting stability and integration throughout the Mediterranean region. It is a forum for discussing regional strategic issues, based on the principles of shared ownership, shared decision-making and shared responsibility between the two shores of the Mediterranean. Its main goal is to increase both north–south and South-South integration in the Mediterranean region, in order to support the countries' socioeconomic development and ensure stability in the region. The institution, through its course of actions, focuses on two main pillars: fostering human development and promoting sustainable development. To this end, it identifies and supports regional projects and initiatives of different sizes, to which it gives its label, following a consensual decision among the 42 countries.
These projects and initiatives focus on 6 sectors of activity, as mandated by the UfM Member States:
The members of the Union of the Mediterranean are the following:
Additionally, Libya is an observer state.[4] The UfM has expressed a desire to grant Libya full membership,[5] and Mohamed Abdelaziz, Libya's Foreign Minister from January 2013 to August 2014, once stated that his country is "open" to joining.[6] The Arab League also participates in UfM meetings.[note 1][7]
Results[edit]
European Union free trade agreements currently exist with Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, and Turkey, but the proposed union-wide free trade area has not been created. In 2020, Haizam Amirah-Fernandez criticized European countries for conducting foreign policy based on their perceived security interests, saying it caused them to work with autocratic regimes rather than push for democracy. He pointed out that since its creation 25 years earlier, only one member country, Tunisia, has become democratic, and he argued that was despite and not because of European powers. [125]
Other organizations and euro-Mediterranean institutions[edit]
Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly[edit]
The Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA) is not a new institution inside the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership framework. It was established in Naples on 3 December 2003 by the Euro-Mediterranean Ministers of Foreign Affairs and had its first plenary session in Athens on 22–23 March 2004. The EMPA gathers parliamentarians from the Euro-Mediterranean countries and has four permanent committees on the following issues:[134]
The Paris Declaration states that contributions for the Union for the Mediterranean will have to develop the capacity to attract funding from "the private sector participation; contributions from the EU budget and all partners; contributions from other countries, international financial institutions and regional entities; the Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership Facility (FEMIP); the ENPI", among other possible instruments,[20]
