THE ENP SETS UP THE AOD?
3/17/08
WHAT I KNOW
*In 1995, the Barcelona Process was born through the auspices of Javier Solana of Spain, now the foreign minister of the EU.
*In 2007, the Barcelona Process was confirmed by Javier Solana, which it is now named the European Neighborhood Policy or the EuroMed Process.
*In 2008, there seems to be a move to take the original Barcelona Process, and use its funds and mechanisms to create a Mediterranean Union.
WHAT I DON'T KNOW
*I would like to know exactly how Javier Solana feels about the idea of a Mediterranean Union.
MY THOUGHTS
There is some concern with the Mediterranean Union, and I hope to explain some of it from what I know. First of all, I have not read a statement from Javier Solana about the idea of the Mediterranean Union, so I am going on what I know. With that said, I may be updating this as I get more information. I want to thank the readers for letting me know about this proposal from the EU nations.
In 1995, the Barcelona Process was born, and out of the Barcelona Process was a confirmation of that process in the form of a security treaty called the European Neighborhood Policy. That policy can be read on the website under Important Peace Documents. That policy was confirmed in 2007. This policy can also be understood under the name the EuroMed Process. Now, we have an addendum to the whole Barcelona Process called the Mediterranean Union (MU). We won't know for sure until maybe this summer how this will strengthen the ENP, but that is what we can get out of this--The MU strengthens the ENP even more than it is now.
It is too early to see how exactly this will play out, but this I do know. The MU does not negate that fact we are in the last days. However, it makes the case for the last days even stronger. The question still cannot be answered--Does the ENP set up the Abomination of Desolation? By 2010 we will know for that is the midpoint of the ENP and maybe the mipoint of the 70th week?
Bro. Brian
SCRIPTURE
Matthew 24:15
"So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,'[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel?let the reader understand"
NEWS LINK
EU leaders on Thursday (13 March) approved a watered-down version of a plan put forward by French President Nicolas Sarkozy for a grand Mediterranean Union stretching from Morocco to Turkey and aiming to foster cooperation with the EU's southern neighbours.
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa called the proposal an "upgrade of the Barcelona process" - the mechanism currently regulating the relations between the EU and the Mediterranean countries - and said it had received support during the EU leaders' meeting in Brussels.
BREAK
The details of the plan are to be worked out by June, before a summit on 13 July in Paris under the French EU presidency, which would formally launch the Union for the Mediterranean.
The fledgling union is to involve some 39 countries - the EU's 27 members and around 12 southern states, such as Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Israel, Syria and Turkey.
http://euobserver.com/9/25835
ANOTHER NEWS LINK
Germany also prevailed by holding to its position that no new EU money beyond the funds allocated for the Barcelona Process should be given to the new union, countering Franco-Italian demands that the financing for the new body be multiplied.
BREAK
The agreement also foresees bi-annual summit meetings between the EU and its partner countries. Seen as a partial victory for Paris, the southern EU nations will hold the first presidencies.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesP...97&Language=en
ADDENDUM
EU CHIEF CALLS FOR 'URGENT DELIVERY' OF MEDITERRANEAN UNION PLANS
Received Friday, 28 March 2008 11:54:00 GMT
ATHENS, March 28, 2008 (AFP) - European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso on Friday called for "urgent delivery" of plans for a Mediterranean Union aimed at strengthening cooperation with countries from Morocco to Turkey.
"The Mediterranean is an absolute priority for Europe, a priority on which delivery has now become urgent," Barroso told an Athens meeting of parliament presidents from the 37 member states of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.
"We need to move from intentions to delivery -- we need a Euro-Med of results," he said.
France is hosting a summit on the issue in July, and Barroso said he wanted it "to be a success, so there is urgency."
The region faces "major challenges in achieving peace, security and prosperity," the EU commission president said, with key issues including migration, gender equality and energy cooperation.
On March 14, EU leaders approved a French plan for a Mediterranean Union agreed on a need to boost ties with the region, but baulked at creating a new, potentially costly, structure on which to base the partnership.
The plan is mainly promoted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who hopes France's six-month EU presidency starting on July 1 will bolster its role within Europe and is pushing proposals for tougher EU-wide immigration control.
The EU already has a framework in place for political, economic and social ties around the Mediterranean basin, the so-called Barcelona Process launched in 1995.
But the process has regularly been thwarted in its aims by confrontation between Israel and Arab countries.
"I think it is undeniable that the major single issue that has held us back is the enduring Middle East conflict," Barroso said on Friday.
He noted that the EU was the area's largest investor and foreign direct investment to the Mediterranean basin has quadrupled from 10 billion dollars (6.3 billion euros) in 2000 to 40 billion in 2006.
"But we are nowhere near our ambition of realising the fully-fledged Euromed Regional Free Trade Area, the largest in the world, by 2010," he said.
http://www.ttc.org/200803281154.m2sbs4l10063.htm
