User:Bmw 1986/sandbox
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Union for the Mediterranean is a multilateral partnership that gathers 43 countries from the Mediterranean Basin: the 27 member states of the European Union and 16 Mediterranean partner countries North Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans. It was launched in July 2008 as a new phase of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership with the objective of promoting stability and prosperity throughout the region.
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/EU27-2008-Union_for_the_Mediterranean.svg/320px-EU27-2008-Union_for_the_Mediterranean.svg.png)
The Union for the Mediterranean is the southern regional cooperation branch of the European Neighborhood Policy. Its eastern counterpart is the Eastern Partnership.
The Euro-Mediterranean Heads of State and Government decided at the Paris Summit to introduce to the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership new institutions in order to upgrade their multilateral relations, guarantee the co-ownership of the process and enhance its visibility. One of the main differences between the Barcelona Process and the Union for the Mediterranean is the creation of a Secretariat that is in charge of identifying and applying concrete projects with the aim of improving the lives of the peoples at both shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
The members of the Union of the Mediterranean are the following:
- From the European Union side:
- the 27 European Union member states (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.)
- the European Commission.
- From the side of the Mediterranean Partner countries:
- Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, Israel,Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.
- Libya as an observer state. [1]
- the League of Arab States[2] [3]