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EU leaders approve Union for Mediterranean

BRUSSELS, March 14 (KUNA) -- European Union leaders concluded their 2-day summit here this afternoon after approving the establishment of a new project called "Barcelona Process : Union for the Mediterranean" with the goal to improve cooperation between the countries in the north and south of the Mediterranean.
EU foreign policy Javier Solana told a press conference that the union was a "natural evolution of what was created in 1995." He was referring to the Barcelona Process which was launched in 1995 to promote economic, cultural and security cooperation and dialogue between EU member states and countries around the Mediterranean.
However, the Process has not been successful in achieving its main goals .
French President Nicolas Sarkozy had proposed last year during his election campaign to form the Mediterranean Union but he had to water it down after the proposal received a cool reaction from other EU states and complaints from Germany.
Sarkozy reportedly said last year that it is better to have Turkey in the Mediterranean Union than in the EU.
But Janez Jansa, Slovenian Prime Minister and President-in-Office of the EU Council, stressed that the new project was not aimed at excluding Turkey from EU membership.
"It is not a substitute solution for Turkey. This is not an alternative," he told the joint press conference.
On his part, the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said "we will be delighted to welcome Turkey" in the Mediterranean Union.
The EU leaders in a statement said the Union will include the member states of the EU and the non-EU Mediterranean coastal states and be an upgrade of the Barcelona Process.
They invited the European Commission to present to the Council the necessary proposals for defining its modalities in view of the summit which will take place in Paris on 13 July.
Menawhile, there was no mention of the Middle East in the conclusions adopted by the summit which was focused on economic issues.
Barroso underlined that the leaders of the 27-member EU discussed the "important issue of economic policy." Jansa said the summit approved the goals in three key areas, the Lisbon agenda for job and growth, energy and climate packages. The EU leaders in their conclusions said work must be vigorously pursued on further developing the external dimension of the 2007-2009 Energy Policy for Europe.
The next Strategic Energy Review will be presented in November 2008 and endorsed by the spring EU summit in 2009 and which will serve as the basis for the new Energy Action Plan from 2010 onwards.
The EU leaders welcomed the joint report from EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and the European Commission on the impact of climate change on international security.
They called on the Council of Ministers to submit recommendations on how to intensify cooperation with third countries and regions regarding the impact of climate change on international security by end of 2008. The conclusions noted that the EU is committed to maintaining international leadership on climate change and energy and to keeping up the momentum of negotiations on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol.
On economy, the summit conclusions said the "fundamentals of the EU economy remain sound: public deficits have been more than halved since 2005 and public debt has also declined to just under 60 percent. Economic growth in the EU has reached 2.9 percent in 2007, but is likely to be lower this year.
However, the global economic outlook has deteriorated recently as a result of a slowdown of economic activity in the United States, higher oil and commodity prices, and ongoing turbulence on the financial markets, said the conclusions.
On financial stability, the EU leaders said "early warning systems at the EU and international level should be enhanced, including the role of the IMF in oversight of macro-financial stability." (end) nk.bz.
KUNA 141804 Mar 08NNNN