Source: AFP, 07-06-2008

By: Abdellah Chaballah

ALGIERS: Arab countries have asked for clarification regarding 'Israel's' membership in a proposed Mediterranean Union, plans for which are due to be unveiled next week, Algeria's foreign minister said Friday. Plans for the Union were at the top of the agenda Friday as the 15th round of the Mediterranean Forum opened in Algiers.

The proposed Union is an idea strongly advocated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is due to present the project on July 13 at a Paris summit of Mediterranean candidates eligible to join the new bloc.

Attending the Forum in Algiers were 11 of the countries that line the Mediterranean to the north and south, including Slovenia - which currently holds the rotating EU presidency - and Libya, which currently heads the Arab Maghreb Union.

"Among the items that must be clarified are the consequences of 'Israel's' presence inside the Mediterranean Union," said Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci, who opened Friday's conference.

"The Mediterranean Union must not normalize [relations] between 'Israel' and Arab countries, something which has not been achieved by the Barcelona process," launched in 1995 to bring the EU and five countries from the Mediterranean's southern rim closer together, he said.

"Our decision on whether or not to attend the Paris summit will be known once we know the contents of the Mediterranean Union project," he said, adding that Algiers could announce its position after a July 12 foreign ministers meeting of Union candidate countries.

Algeria notably has reservations about how the Mediterranean Union will be financed and where its headquarters will be located.