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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-03-14 10:41

BRUSSELS -- A European Union summit agreed here Thursday to launch a Mediterranean Union proposed by France to strengthen and further the Barcelona Process.

The establishment of a Mediterranean Union "enjoyed support in the Council," Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, told a joint press conference after the first day's session of the spring EU summit.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso answers reporters' questions during a news conference prior to a European Union Heads of State and Government summit in Brussels March 13, 2008. [Agencies]

"Today we recognized the need to upgrade the Barcelona Process," he said at the press conference, which was also attended by European Commission President Jose Manual Barroso.

"When the Barcelona Process was launched, it was quite a different time," he said, "But now things have changed, we need to adapt."

He stressed that the Mediterranean Union was not to replace the Barcelona Process but to upgrade it, noting the Process had produced positive results after it was first launched a dozen years ago.

The Barcelona Process was started in 1995 to foster dialogue between EU member states and countries on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean, including the Arab states (among them the Palestinian National Authority, but not Libya), Israel, Cyprus, and Turkey.

The main aim of the process was to promote democratization, security and economic growth in the countries in Europe's south and east.

The prime minister noted that all EU member states would be involved in the process and work would begin in relevant departments within the EU to see if anything should be added to the Process.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed in his election campaign last year to establish the Mediterranean Union stretching from Morocco to Turkey.

But the proposal met with a cool reaction at Thursday's summit of the EU though leaders expressed their support for the strengthening of relations with countries in the Mediterranean region.

"The European Union should increase its presence in the Mediterranean," Jansa told reporters upon arrival for the summit earlier in the day.

"But we don't need parallel institutions, and of course we have to have all member countries and countries of the Mediterranean onboard," he added.