SPAIN SUPPORTS ESTABLISHMENT OF MEDITERRANEAN UNION WHILE TURKEY RATES IT AS SECOND-CLASS "CLUB MED"

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.08.2007 15:08 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s idea of a
Mediterranean Union for countries like Turkey – which he does not
want admitted to the European Union – has picked up support from
Spain, whose own Euro-Mediterranean partnership has floundered,
but is getting the cold shoulder in Turkey.

Spain’s Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said, "The moment
has arrived … to build a real geopolitical space through the
establishment of a Mediterranean Union," which already has been
derided in Turkish newspapers as a second-class "Club Med." It would
include some EU countries bordering the Mediterranean and have its own
council of heads of state and government to set strategic policies,
a separate commission, parliament and bank, Moratinos said. The
organization would help the region tackle challenges ranging from
environmental issues to immigration, he added.

However, a senior Turkish diplomat who did not want to be named said,
"We never see the Mediterranean Union plan as an alternative to
Turkey’s EU accession.

Turkey is proceeding on the path for full membership since 1999,"
the year Ankara gained candidacy status, ABHaber reports.

The problem of opening ports for Cypriot vessels and human rights
violations remain the main obstacles for Turkey’s accession.