Wednesday 11 June 2008

Fate of the Mediterranean Union


The grand scheme of Nicolas Sarkozy's Mediterranean Union receive a heavy blow today as Libya refuses to join this proposed organization, which would include all countries in Africa, Europe and the Middle East that border the Mediterranean Sea. Perhaps such a refusal shouldn't be a surprise since the proposal is admittedly an over ambitious one. It is also unclear that what purposes will such an organization serves.

Gadaffi has put his doubts, which many people share, nicely, "We do not belong to Brussels. The Arab League is in Cairo and the African Union is in Addis Ababa. If they want to cooperate with us, they should go through Cairo or Addis Ababa." For what reasons an extra organization is needed outside of the the African Union, the Arab League and the European Union? With such a diretionless agenda, the Mediterranean Union, regardless of how noble it may sound, is destined to be a failure.