Mediterranean Sea has to unify not separate us, Algerian President Bouteflika says

Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika hinted to some reasons behind his delay in deciding to participate to the summit for MU in Paris, which he linked , as he stated to the Algerian Press Agency, to some shadowy zones in the original document before its revision.

• In his interview, the president said “ the French initiative that was revealed in July 2007 ambitioned to create a Mediterranean Union to the European Union model, and was talking about bringing together all countries belonging to the Mediterranean basin willing to set partnerships with a variable geometry; and it was intended to create Union dissociated from Barcelona process governed by its own structures”
• The president went on saying “ The summit had to take place every two years with a fair presidency and a Head Quarter with enlarged Secretariat in addition to regular ministerial meetings to discuss the projects”
• But the different consultations which took place last year revealed mitigated views between most of the countries of the southern part of the Mediterranean as well as deep dissentions appeared to day light among major European countries which ended up to find a consensus approved by the European Council in March 2008.
• The Algerian president called on the setting of a Euro-Med cooperation which gives priority to the human dimension, without neglecting the economic side of it. This was the original plan in Barcelona ‘s process, the president added;