By IRNA
Berlin : Germany is apparently giving up its stiff opposition to plans by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to press ahead with the creation of the Mediterranean Union.
Deputy government spokesman Thomas Steg said in remarks to the press in Berlin that all European Union states agreed that the so-called ‘Barcelona process’ needed a “new impetus.”
Pointing out that the ‘Barcelona process’ referred to the EU’s institutional cooperation with surrounding Mediterranean countries, Steg called for “reviving the ‘Barcelona process’.
It’s the common conviction within the EU that everyone that wants to join such a process should be able to take part, the chancellery official added.
The project has to be open to all EU members, Steg reiterated.
Sarkozy plans to unveil the Mediterranean Union in July, coinciding with France’s rotating EU presidency.
Over the past months, Merkel had repeatedly warned against Sarkozy’s unilateral Mediterranean Union initiative, saying all EU member states had to be included in this process.
The French president has repeatedly called for such a strategic alliance since winning elections in early May.
Sarkozy seeks to include countries like Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Libya, in this union.