Sarkozy's Mediterranean Union: Unifying the Divided.

Yesterday, French President Nicholas Sarkozy launched the Mediterranean Union, an alliance encompassing the EU and countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, in Paris. The idea of a Mediterranean Union has been something of a pet project for Mr. Sarkozy, and many analysts expecting this launch--and indeed the union--to be little more than a bit of political flash and glitter.

France and Egypt will be the first co-chairs of the Mediterranean Union (Source: Website of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2008).

While the ultimate fate of the Mediterranean Union may indeed disappoint, the inauguration of the union far surpassed the cynical expectations. For starters, even before the official launch of the Mediterranean Union, French helped procure an agreement for Lebanon and Syria to set up full fledged embassies in each other's country, something which has not happened since both Syria and Lebanon gained independence from European rule. Then there was the seeming rapprochement between Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the West Bank's President Mahmoud Abbas.

However, it does seem somewhat unfair, and even divisive, that while all members of the European Union are now members of the Mediterranean Union, even those European states which do not even border the Mediterranean Sea, that not all members of the African Union are made member states of the Mediterranean Union. Undoubtedly, sub-Saharan Africans' North African neighbors did not push all that hard--or at all--for every African Union state to be granted admittance to the union. The one North Africa leader who might have made such an effort, Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, did not attend, viewing the union as an attempt at colonialism.

For the Arabs, having a union with Europeans being initiated by the French in Paris is fitting, as the word for Europe in Arabic is derived from the word for 'France.' For Israel and Turkey, both those countries have strong ties to the Gallic country.

The union will comprise 43 states, consisting of the EU, North Africa, and Levant; additionally, the union will be headed by a "North-South co-presidency."

Meanwhile, the website for the French Presidency of the European Union 2008 states as the basis of the Mediterranean Union:

"a political mobilisation at the highest level through Summits of Heads of State and Government every two years; a governance on an equal footing, in the form of a North-South co-presidency and a permanent secretariat with equal representation; a prioritising of concrete projects with a regional dimension that create de facto solidarity."

These principles are largely for the purpose of realizing two goals, reducing illegal immigration from North Africa, and reducing regional hostilities.

LINKS

Article from French EU Presidency "Mediterranean Union is launched" (BBC) "Israel PM: Peace closer than ever" (BBC) "Sarkozy's plan: Showy or astute?"

All quotes and pictures in this article are from the Website of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2008.

This last goal will be particularly difficult. Already mentioned, are rivals Israel and Syria, along with the Palestinians and Lebanon. Then there are Greece and Turkey, Morocco and Algeria, and even Spain and Morocco and Turkey and Cyprus. Many of these were brought up by President Sarkozy himself. He hopes that the Mediterranean Union will bring peace and prosperity to the Mediterranean region the same way that the European Union brought peace and prosperity to Europe.

This is a noble objective, but a difficult one to achieve. As stated, many of the countries have political rivalries. There is also the issue of religious values between Christians, Atheists, Muslims, and Jews. Add onto that that there is a huge gap in the levels of economic development between members, far more than between members in the European Union. And there is also system of government; while many are officially democracies, many would be more appropriately considered autocracies. Sarkozy, France, and the member states have a lot of work cut out for them if they are going to make the Mediterranean Union a success.

If the Mediterranean Union works, then that will be great for the world, showing that a region with diversity in 'race,' religion, politics, ideologies, and values can work together equitably and peacefully for the good of all in that region. In essence, unifying those which were divided.

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European Racism.

One often hears about how racist and discriminatory the United States is. Often this criticism emanates out of Europe. Indeed, the United States does have a sizable share of the world's racists. However, Europe has its own group of racists, so to point the finger solely at the United States is more than a little hypocritical. This European streak of racism has recently flared up again in two cases, that of Italy's decision to fingerprint members of its Roma (commonly referred to as Gypsy) community along with an surge in racially based hate crimes in Ukraine. Europe can--and should--criticism the United States (and other countries in the world) over racism, but should also clean up its own house, so to type.

Italy has passed a requiring the fingerprinting of Roma in their country in the wake of several high profile crimes by Roma. While the Italians are in the right for trying to protect themselves and the order of their country, the way to do that is not to treat all members of a racial community as suspects--which this law effectively does--even if a lot of crime occurs from individuals in that community. 'Individuals' being the main point. These crimes are being carried out by individual people. There is not some grand Roma plan to wreak havoc in Italy or something--besides, the Italians can do that on their own. Across Europe, if the Roma were given the same considerations as members of the majority ethnic communities, there would little reason why their community would not develop to the same standards as their majority ethnicity neighbors. It is because of discrimination that the situation of the Roma is so bad. And don't try to point to 'blacks' in the United States. Today, although as a group they still face social--not legal--discrimination, most 'blacks' are part of the middle of American socio-economic society.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International as reported that there's an uptick in hate crimes in Ukraine. Targeted at members of several racial groups such as Roma, South Koreans, and Jews, many of these racists seem to be neo-Nazis. As is too often the case among societies, the Ukrainian government downplays the racist elements in their population. Ukraine is hardly alone in that--many Americans, Chinese, Koreans, Europeans, Latinos, Africans, etc. try to sweep the racism in their own countries under the rug. The thing is, in Ukraine, people are being killed due to their 'race.' That is abnormal for most countries, with some African states being an exception. Meanwhile, one Ukrainian politician who analogized these 'race'-based attacks by ethnic Ukrainians to "the immune system - the reaction of a healthy body to the infection that got into it," seems more fitting for an Asian politician, not a European one.

As a continent (or subcontinent), Europe as a whole is fairly decent in respect to opposing racism. In the Italian case, the EU Parliament has scolded Italy and called on the country to immediately halt the fingerprinting. The Europeans that have personally met have seemed to be generally non-racist. Still, as with all countries and regions, Europe can do a bit more to eradicate the baseless discrimination of racism.

--------
Found this article interesting? Check out:
The Roadmap to the Future.
The Roadmap to the Future--Africa.
The Roadmap to the Future--Asia.
The Roadmap to the Future--Latin America.

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The Science Fiction Channel + Technorium.
The Vegetarian Diaries.

Tag this post with:
Delicious	Digg	Technorati	reddit	Facebook	StumbleUpon	Furl	blinklist

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Found this article interesting? Check out:
History: The Roadmap to the Future.
History: The Roadmap to the Future--Africa.
History: The Roadmap to the Future--Asia.
History: The Roadmap to the Future--Europe.
History: The Roadmap to the Future--Latin America.

Or:
The Science Fiction Channel + Technorium.
The Vegetarian Diaries + Biologeel.