Imagine yourself in 1945 looking into the future. Who would have bet that Germany, Italy, and Japan would eventually forge a military, economic, and social alliance with France, the U.K. and the U.S?
That’s what comes to mind when I think of The Union of the Mediterranean, the heterogeneous community of 43 countries that includes Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Israel, Turkey and Cyprus, the Balkans, and Algeria and Morocco, just to name a few hatchets waiting to be buried.
I don’t mean to draw simplistic parallels. This is not 1945 and the context is completely different, from the starting point, to historic bonds, economic structures, and political systems. So how could this union—which will finally start functioning in April—conceivably be more than another useless, bureaucratic, excuse for political leaders to take fieldtrips?
Europe has very little in common with its Southern, Arab or Turkish neighbors, from political systems, culture, to economic models. Indeed, the last time the Mediterranean even remotely acted in unison was during the Roman Empire, almost 2000 years ago (when by the way none of the prevalent religions today were mainstream).
But that is precisely what makes this reverie a good idea. Diplomacy works only when you intertwine destinies. What allowed post-Second World War enemies to eventually work as allies was the myriad of venues they created to exchange commonalities, instead of succumbing to differences, such as the OECD, NATO, the European Union, the World Bank, and the International Energy Agency.
I’m not optimistic that I will see 43 European and Mediterranean countries acting as allies any time soon. But I will put money on that many years from now the Union of Mediterranean will be remembered as a bold, visionary idea that put the ball rolling.
Here’s why. The very fact this union exists is nothing short of miraculous, although most of the 800 million people it represents don’t even know about it. It was conceived 15 years ago in a completely different form. Then President Nicolas Sarkozy of France came along and tried to make it his in 2008, but Germany’s Angela Merkel stopped him short and demanded that the rest of the EU be included. As could only be expected, it took an additional year and a half for its members to agree on a headquarters and top posts.
But it actually happened against all odds. Diplomats finally brokered a deal to sit all apparently irreconcilable sides. It’s headquartered in Barcelona, Spain; its secretary general is Arab (Ahmad Masa’deh of Jordan); the Arab League gets full representation, and both Israel and Palestinian each get one of six deputy secretary posts. The other four will be Italy, Greece, Malta, and Turkey.
The names of the six secretaries will be announced by the end of March, although some of the names have already been filtered. With the names in hand, each of the six deputies will steer one of the six common policy areas: cleaning the Mediterranean, land and sea highways, civil protection, renewable energy, university and research exchanges, and business promotion. And Libya still needs to be convinced to join.
But all those so-called policies are just the excuse. The accomplishment is simply that Israelis and Palestinians will share leadership roles, along with Turkey and Greece, and that the Arab League will be represented along with the European Union. These are by no means the only divisions that have to be overcome in the region, but they are certainly the deal-breakers.
The first test will come in June when the first summit is scheduled. Imagine Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, Palestine’s Mahmoud Abbas, Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan, Greece’s George Papandreou, to name a few, taking a family picture together.
Indeed, it is likely Arab countries will boycott the nascent summit if Israel continues undermining the Palestinian Authority. On top of that, France and Greece have no intention of allowing Turkey into the EU, and Algeria and Morocco refuse to settle on the Saharawi issue, not to mention the broader Arab-Israeli conflict, the Syrian and Israeli bellicose talk, ongoing Syrian intervention in Lebanon, and more.
But even if this summit fails, the secretariat and its six mélange of deputies will continue to exist, however off the radar they remain. That’s how diplomacy works. In order for there to be peace, a channel needs to exist. Even if war lies ahead, there needs to be a vision.
This is what is remarkable and promising about the Union of the Mediterranean. However useless the bureaucracy will be for years, enemies will share objectives and intertwine their futures.
After all, it doesn’t matter how long the feud lasts or even if shouting evolves into punches. At some point, disputes are inevitably resolved. History has shown us that. And there’s nothing like a neighborhood association to catalyze an agreement.
Andrés Cala - Madrid based freelance journalist
