Context Antecedents: Barcelona Process , one of the founders of the Barcelona Process The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, also known as the Barcelona Process, was created in 1995 as a result of the Conference of Euro-Mediterranean Ministers of Foreign Affairs held in Barcelona on 27 and 28 November under the Spanish presidency of the EU. The founding act of the Partnership in 1995 and Final Declaration of the Barcelona Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference is called the Barcelona Declaration, which is often used to refer to the Process itself. The Partnership culminated in a series of attempts by European countries to articulate their relations with their
North African and Middle Eastern neighbours: the global Mediterranean policy (1972–1992) and the renovated Mediterranean policy (1992–1995).
Javier Solana opened the conference by saying that they were brought together to straighten out the "clash of civilizations" and misunderstandings that there had been between them, and that it "was auspicious" that they had convened on the 900th anniversary of the
First Crusade. He described the conference as a process to foster cultural and economic unity in the Mediterranean region. The Barcelona Treaty was drawn up by the 27 countries in attendance, and Solana, who represented Spain as its
foreign minister during the country's turn at the
Presidency of the Council of the European Union, was credited with the diplomatic accomplishment. According to the 1995 Barcelona Declaration, the aim of the initiative was summed up as: "turning the Mediterranean basin into an area of dialogue, exchange and cooperation guaranteeing peace, stability and prosperity". The Declaration established the three main objectives of the Partnership, called "baskets" (i.e., strands or facets): • Definition of a common area of peace and stability through the reinforcement of political and security dialogue (Political and Security Basket). • Construction of a zone of shared prosperity through an economic and financial partnership and the gradual establishment of a free-trade area (Economic and Financial Basket). •
Rapprochement between peoples through a social, cultural and human partnership aimed at encouraging understanding between cultures and exchanges between civil societies (Social, Cultural and Human Basket). The European Union stated the intention of the partnership was "to strengthen its relations with the countries in the
Mashreq and
Maghreb regions". Both
Ehud Barak and
Yasser Arafat praised Solana's coordination of the Barcelona Process. The Barcelona Process, developed after the Conference in successive annual meetings, is a set of goals designed to lead to a
free trade area in the
Mediterranean Basin by 2010. The agenda of the Barcelona Process is: • Security and stability in the Mediterranean; • Agreeing on shared values and initializing a long-term process for cooperation in the Mediterranean; • Promoting democracy,
good governance and human rights; • Achieving mutually satisfactory trading terms for the region's partners, the "region" consisting of the countries that participated; • Establishing a complementary policy to the
United States' presence in the Mediterranean. The Barcelona Process comprises three "baskets", in EU jargon, or strands: • economic – to work for shared prosperity in the Mediterranean Region, including the Association Agreements on the bilateral level • political – promotion of political values, good governance and democracy • cultural – cultural exchange and strengthening civil society The
Euro-Mediterranean free trade area (EU-MEFTA) is based on the Barcelona Process and
European Neighbourhood Policy. The
Agadir Agreement of 2004 is seen as its first building block. At the time of its creation, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership comprised 27 member countries: 15 from the
European Union and 12 Mediterranean countries (Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta,
Morocco,
Palestine, Syria,
Tunisia, and Turkey). As a result of the European Union's enlargements of 2004 and 2007 the number of EU member states grew up to 27, and two of the Mediterranean partner countries—Cyprus and
Malta—became part of the European Union. The EU enlargement changed the configuration of the Barcelona Process from "15+12" to "27+10".
Albania and Mauritania joined the Barcelona Process in 2007, raising the number of participants to 39.
Euromediterranean Summit 2005 The 10th anniversary Euromediterranean summit was held in
Barcelona on 27–28 November 2005. Full members of the
Barcelona Process were: • 27 Member States of the
European Union. • 10 countries from the southern
Mediterranean shore:
Algeria, Palestine, Egypt, Israel, Jordan,
Lebanon, Morocco,
Syria, Tunisia, and Turkey (already part of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the latter began EU accession talks on 3 October). •
Croatia, a candidate to join the EU, which began accession talks on 3 October. • The
European Parliament, the
European Commission, and the
Secretary General of the
Council of the EU Moreover, the Barcelona Process included 6 countries and institutions participating as permanent observers (
Libya,
Mauritania, the
Secretary-General of the
Arab League) and invited observers, such as the
European Investment Bank, the
Arab Maghreb Union, the
Anna Lindh Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures, the Economical and Social Committee or the Euromed Economical and Social Councils. According to the
ISN, "Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas and Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan were the only leaders from the Mediterranean countries to attend, while those of Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt were not present."From the official web site, "The new realities and challenges of the 21st century make it necessary to update the Barcelona Declaration and create a new Action Plan (based on the good results of the Valencia Action Plan), encompassing four fundamental areas": • Peace, Security, Stability, Good Government, and Democracy. • Sustainable Economic Development and Reform. • Education and Cultural Exchange • Justice, Security, Migration, and Social Integration (of Immigrants).
Regional aspects Regional dialogue represents one of the most innovative aspects of the Partnership, covering at the same time the political, economic and cultural fields (regional co-operation). Regional co-operation has a considerable strategic impact as it deals with problems that are common to many Mediterranean Partners while it emphasises the national complementarities. The multilateral dimension supports and complements the bilateral actions and dialogue taking place under the Association Agreements. Since 2004 the Mediterranean Partners are also included in the
European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and since 2007 are funded via the
ENPI.
The Euromed Heritage Programme As a result of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the
Euromed Heritage program was formed. This program has been active since 1998, and has been involved in programs to identify the cultural heritages of Mediterranean states, promote their preservation, and educate the peoples of partner countries about their cultural heritages.
Response By some analysts, the process has been declared ineffective . The stalling of the Middle East Peace Process is having an impact on the Barcelona Process and is hindering progress especially in the first basket. The economic basket can be considered a success, and there have been more projects for the exchange on a cultural level and between the peoples in the riparian states. Other criticism is mainly based on the predominant role the European Union is playing. Normally it is the EU that is assessing the state of affairs, which leads to the impression that the North is dictating the South what to do. The question of an enhanced co-ownership of the process has repeatedly been brought up over the last years. Being a long-term process and much more complex than any other similar project, it may be many years before a final judgment can be made. Bishara Khader argues that this ambitious European project towards its Mediterranean neighbours has to be understood in a context of optimism. On the one hand, the
European Community was undergoing important changes due to the reunification of Germany after the fall of the
Berlin Wall in 1989 and the beginning of the adhesion negotiations of Eastern and Central European countries. On the other, the
Arab–Israeli conflict appeared to be getting closer to achieving peace after the
Madrid Conference (1991) and the
Oslo Accords (1992). As well, Khader states that the
Gulf War of 1991, the Algerian crisis (from 1992 onwards) and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism throughout the Arab world are also important factors in Europe's new relations with the Mediterranean countries based on security concerns. Criticism of the Barcelona Process escalated after the celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Euro-Mediterranean Summit in Barcelona in 2005. First, the absence of Heads of State and Government from the Southern Mediterranean countries (with the exception of the Palestinian and Turkish ones) heavily contrasted with the attendance of the 27 European Union's Heads of State and Government. Second, the lack of consensus to define the term "terrorism" prevented the endorsement of a final declaration. The
Palestinian Authority,
Ba'athist Syria, and
Algeria argued that resistance movements against foreign occupation should not be included in this definition. Nevertheless, a code of conduct on countering terrorism and a five-year work program were approved at Barcelona summit of 2005. both of which are still valid under the Union for the Mediterranean. For many, the political context surrounding the 2005 summit – the stagnation of the Middle East Peace Process, the
US-led war on Iraq, the lack of democratisation in Arab countries, and the
war on terror's negative effects on freedoms and human rights, among others—proved for many the inefficiency of the Barcelona Process for fulfilling its objectives of peace, stability and prosperity. Given these circumstances, even politicians that had been engaged with the Barcelona Process since its very beginnings, like the Spanish politician
Josep Borrell, expressed their disappointment about the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and its incapacity to deliver results. Critiques from Southern Mediterranean countries blamed the Partnership's failure on Europe's lack of interest towards the Mediterranean in favour of its Eastern neighbourhood; whereas experts from the North accused Southern countries of only being interested on "their own bi-lateral relationship with the EU" while downplaying multilateral policies.), and identifying as successes the
Association Agreements, the Code of Conduct on Countering Terrorism and the establishment of the
Anna Lindh Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures.
Mediterranean Union , on the initiative of France, States embark on a round negotiations to revive the process. A proposal to establish a "Mediterranean Union", which would consist principally of Mediterranean states, was part of the election campaign of
Nicolas Sarkozy during the
French presidential election campaign in 2007. During the campaign, Sarkozy said that the Mediterranean Union would be modelled on the European Union with a shared judicial area and common institutions. Sarkozy saw Turkish membership of the Mediterranean Union as an alternative to membership of the European Union, which he opposes, Once elected, President Sarkozy invited all heads of state and government of the Mediterranean region to a meeting in June 2008 in Paris, with a view to laying the basis of a Mediterranean Union. The Mediterranean Union was enthusiastically supported by Egypt and Israel. Turkey strongly opposed the idea and originally refused to attend the Paris conference until it was assured that membership of the Mediterranean Union was not being proposed as an alternative to membership of the EU. and Greece. However the
European Commission and Germany were more cautious about the project. The
European Commission saying that while initiatives promoting regional co-operation were good, it would be better to build them upon existing structures, notable among them being the
Barcelona process. German chancellor
Angela Merkel said the UfM risked splitting and threatening the core of the EU. In particular she objected to the potential use of EU funds to fund a project which was only to include a small number of EU member states. When
Slovenia took the EU presidency at the beginning of 2008, the then Slovenian Prime Minister
Janez Janša added to the criticism by saying: "We do not need a duplication of institutions, or institutions that would compete with EU, institutions that would cover part of the EU and part of the neighbourhood." Other criticisms of the proposal included concern about the relationship between the proposed UfM and the existing
Euromediterranean Partnership (Barcelona Process), which might reduce the effectiveness of EU policies in the region and allow the southern countries to play on the rivalries to escape unpopular EU policies. There were similar economic concerns in the loss of
civil society and similar
human rights based policies. Duplication of policies from the EU's
police and judicial area was a further worry. At the start of 2008, Sarkozy began to modify his plans for the Mediterranean Union due to widespread opposition from other EU member states and the European Commission. At the end of February of that year, France's minister for European affairs,
Jean-Pierre Jouyet, stated that "there is no Mediterranean Union" but rather a "Union for the Mediterranean" that would only be "completing and enriching" to existing EU structures and policy in the region. Following a meeting with German Chancellor
Angela Merkel it was agreed that the project would include all
EU member states, not just those bordering the Mediterranean, and would be built upon the existing Barcelona process. Turkey also agreed to take part in the project following a guarantee from France that it was no longer intended as an alternative to EU membership. The proposed creation of common institutions, and a Mediterranean Investment, which was to have been modelled on the
European Investment Bank, was also dropped. In consequence the new Union for the Mediterranean would consist of regular meeting of the entire EU with the non-member partner states, and would be backed by two co-presidents and a secretariat.
Launch At the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean (13 July 2008), the 43 Heads of State and Government from the Euro-Mediterranean region decided to launch the Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean. It was presented as a new phase Euro-Mediterranean Partnership with new members and an improved institutional architecture which aimed to "enhance multilateral relations, increase co-ownership of the process, set governance on the basis of equal footing and translate it into concrete projects, more visible to citizens. Now is the time to inject a new and continuing momentum into the Barcelona Process. More engagement and new catalysts are now needed to translate the objectives of the Barcelona Declaration into tangible results." The French president had managed to gather in Paris all the Heads of State and Government from the 43 Euro-Mediterranean countries, with the exception of the kings of Morocco and
Jordan. At the Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Foreign Affairs held in
Marseille in November 2008, the Ministers decided to shorten the initiative's name to simply the "Union for the Mediterranean". which completed the Paris Declaration by defining the organisational structure and the principles on which the UfM would be run. A rotating co-presidency was set up, held jointly by one EUmember country and one Mediterranean partner. France and Egypt were the first countries to hold this co-presidency. The presence of the
Arab League at all meetings is written into the rules. A secretariat with a separate legal status and its own statutes was created. Its headquarters were established in Barcelona. The fact that the Union for the Mediterranean is launched as a new phase of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership means that the Union accepts and commits to maintain the
acquis of Barcelona, the purpose of which is to promote "peace, stability and prosperity" throughout the region (Barcelona, 2). Therefore, the four chapters of cooperation developed in the framework of the Barcelona Process during thirteen years remain valid: •
De-pollution of the Mediterranean. This broad project encompasses many initiatives that target good environmental governance, access to drinkable water, water management, pollution reduction and protection of the Mediterranean biodiversity. •
Alternative energies: Mediterranean solar plan. The goal of this project is to promote the production and use of
renewable energies. More specifically, it aims at turning the Mediterranean partner countries into producers of
solar energy and then circulating the resulting electricity through the Euro-Mediterranean region. •
Higher education and research: Euro-Mediterranean University. In June 2008 the
Euro-Mediterranean University of Slovenia was inaugurated in Piran (Slovenia), which offers graduate studies programs. The Foreign Ministers gathered at Marseille in 2008 also called for the creation of another Euro-Mediterranean University in
Fes, Morocco,
Euro-Mediterranean University of Morocco (Euromed-UM). The decision to go ahead with the Fes university was announced in June 2012. The first summit was held in
Paris in July 2008. The second summit should have taken place in a non-EU country in July 2010 but the Euro-Mediterranean countries agreed to hold the summit in
Barcelona on 7 June 2010, under the Spanish
presidency of the EU, instead. However, on 20 May the Egyptian and
French co-presidency along with Spain decided to postpone the summit, in a move which they described as being intended to give more time to the indirect talks between Israel and the
Palestinian Authority that had started that month. In contrast, the Spanish media blamed the postponement on the Arab threat to boycott the summit if
Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's Minister of Foreign Affairs, attended the Foreign Affairs conference prior to the summit. At the time of the Paris summit, France—which was in charge of the EU presidency—and Egypt held the co-presidency. Since then, France had been signing agreements with the different rotator presidencies of the EU (the Czech Republic, Sweden and Spain) in order to maintain the co-presidency for alongside Egypt. which were only approved in March 2010 even though the Marseille declaration set May 2009 as the deadline for the Secretariat to start functioning. At the Paris summit, the Heads of State and Government agreed to establish five Deputy Secretaries General from
Greece, Israel,
Italy, Malta and the
Palestinian Authority.
Turkey's desire to have a Deputy Secretary General and
Cyprus' rejection of it, resulted in months of negotiation until Cyprus finally approved the creation of a sixth Deputy Secreaty General post assigned to a Turkish citizen. As a result of an armed conflict between Israel and Gaza from December 2008 to January 2009, the Arab Group refused to meet at high level, thus blocking all the ministerial meetings scheduled for the first half of 2009. As well, the refusal of the Arab Ministers of Foreign Affairs to meet with their Israeli counterpart,
Avigdor Lieberman, resulted in the cancellation of two ministerial meetings on Foreign Affairs in November 2009 and June 2010. Sectorial meetings of the Union for the Mediterranean have also been affected by Israel's handling of the Palestinian civilian population under its control. At the Euro-Mediterranean ministerial meeting on Water, held in Barcelona in April 2010, the Water Strategy was not approved due to a terminological disagreement of whether to refer to territories claimed by Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese as "occupied territories" or "territories under occupation". Two other ministerial meetings, on higher education and agriculture, had to be cancelled because of the same discrepancy. After the initial postponement, both France and Spain announced their intentions to hold peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority as part of the postponed summit under the auspices of the US. In September, U.S. President
Barack Obama was invited to the summit for this purpose. The summit which was then scheduled to take place in Barcelona on 21 November 2010, was, according to Nicolas Sarkozy, "an occasion to support the negotiations". Nevertheless, at the beginning of November 2010 the peace talks stalled, and the Egyptian co-presidents conditioned the occurrence of the summit on a gesture from Israel that would allow the negotiations to resume. According to some experts
Benjamin Netanyahu's announcement of the construction of 300 new housing units in
East Jerusalem ended all the possibilities of celebrating the summit on 21 November. The two co-presidencies and Spain decided on 15 November to postpone the summit
sine die, alleging that the stagnation of the Middle East Peace Process would hinder a "satisfactory participation". Having been slowed down by the financial and political situation in 2009, the UfM was given a decisive push in March 2010 with the conclusion of the negotiations on the set-up of its General Secretariat and the official inauguration of the same on 4 March 2010 in Barcelona, in the specially refurbished
Palau de Pedralbes. The European Union Ambassador to Morocco, Eneko Landaburu, stated in September 2010 that he does "not believe" in the Union for the Mediterranean. According to him, the division among the Arabs "does not allow to implement a strong inter-regional policy", and calls to leave this ambitious project of 43 countries behind and focus on bilateral relations.
Since 2011 On 22 June 2011, the UfM labelled its first project, the creation of a seawater desalination plant in Gaza. In 2012, the UfM had a total of 13 projects labelled by the 43 countries in the sectorial areas of transport, education, water and development companies. In 2013, the Union for the Mediterranean launches its first projects: • 30 April: Young women as job creators • 28 May: Governance & Financing Water in the Mediterranean area • 17 June: LogismedTA (Training Activities under the Programme on the Development of a Network of Euro-Mediterranean Logistics Platforms) Between 2013 and 2018, thirteen sectorial ministerial meetings took place, in presence of the ministers of the UfM Member States: • UfM Ministerial on Strengthening the role of women in society – September 2013 • UfM Ministerial on Transport – November 2013 • UfM Ministerial on Energy – December 2013 • UfM Ministerial on Industrial cooperation – February 2014 • UfM Ministerial on Environment and climate change – May 2014 • UfM Ministerial on Digital Economy – September 2014 • UfM Ministerial on Blue Economy – November 2015 • UfM Ministerial on Regional Cooperation and Planning – June 2016 • UfM Ministerial on Employment and Labour – September 2016 • UfM Ministerial on Energy – December 2016 • UfM Ministerial on Water – April 2017 • UfM Ministerial on Urban Development – May 2017 • UfM Ministerial on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society – November 2017 • UfM Ministerial Conference on Trade – 19 March 2018 In 2015, the UfM had a total of 37 labelled projects 19 of which were in the implementation phase.[AP2 On 18 November 2015, the review of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), published by the European External Action Service and the commission and confirmed by the European Council ON 14 December, positions the UfM as a driving force for integration and regional cooperation. On 26 November 2015, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Barcelona Declaration, at the initiative of the co-presidents of the UfM, Ms. Federica Mogherini, Vice-President of the European Commission and High Representative of the European Union for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, and Mr. Nasser Judeh, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Jordan, held an informal meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the countries of the UfM in Barcelona to renew their political commitment to the development of regional cooperation in the framework of the UfM. On 14 December 2015 the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution A / 70/124 granting observer status to the Union for the Mediterranean. In February 2016, the UfM-labelled project "Skills for Success" successfully ended its training activities in Jordan and Morocco with high percentages of job placements. The job placement percentage among the total number of job seekers in Jordan and Morocco (115 graduates) is estimated at 49% and 6% of the participants were placed in internships. On 12 March 2016, the UfM was awarded the prestigious Badge of Honor from Agrupación Española de Fomento Europeo (AEFE) in recognition of the value of its work for the Universal Values and Human Rights in the Mediterranean region. On 2 June 2016, the UfM held its first Union for the Mediterranean Ministerial Meeting for Regional Cooperation and Planning, at the invitation of EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn and Imad N. Fakhoury, Jordanian Minister of Cooperation and Planning. Ministers recognised the need to boost economic integration among the countries in the region as one of the means to create opportunities for the necessary inclusive growth and job creation. They highlighted the crucial role of the Union for the Mediterranean to that effect, welcoming the work of the UfM Secretariat to help facilitate progress in regional cooperation and integration, including by promoting region-wide projects. On 18–19 July 2016, the UfM actively participated to the MedCOP Climate 2016, as institutional partner of the Tangier region. MedCOP Climate 2016 provided a forum to present various initiatives and projects supported by the UfM that are helping to formulate a Mediterranean climate agenda, such as the creation of a Mediterranean network of young people working on climate issues; the Regional Committee for Cooperation on Climate Finance, to make funding for climate projects in the region more efficient; and the launch of the UfM Energy University by Schneider Electric. On 10–11 October 2016, the UfM Secretariat organized in Barcelona the Third High-Level Conference on Women Empowerment, which followed the 2014 and 2015 editions and in preparation of the Fourth UfM Ministerial Conference on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society, due to take place late 2017. The Conference provided a regional dialogue forum where the 250 participants from more than 30 countries stressed the need to invest in the essential contribution of women as a response to the current Mediterranean challenges. A report was prepared following the request formulated by the UfM Paris Ministerial Declaration on Strengthening the role of women in society. The request was "to establish an effective follow-up mechanism as a Euro-Mediterranean forum and to ensure an effective dialogue on women-related policies, legislation and implementation". On 1 November 2016, the UfM officially launched the "Integrated Programme for the Protection of Lake Bizerte against Pollution" in Bizerte. Tunisia. The event was held in the presence of Youssef Chahed, Head of Government of Tunisia, Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, and Fathallah Sijilmassi, Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean. With a total budget of more than €90 million over a 5-year period, the programme will contribute towards cleaning up Lake Bizerte in northern Tunisia, improving the living conditions of the surrounding populations and reducing the main sources of pollution impacting the entire Mediterranean Sea. The project is supported by International financing institutions, such as the European Investment Bank and the European Commission, as well as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In November 2016, the UfM Secretariat officially became observer to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) during the COP22, while actively participating through the launch of specific regional initiatives and projects aimed at helping achieve the Paris Agreement targets in the Euro-Mediterranean region. On 23 January 2017, the Union for the Mediterranean's Member States gave a strong political commitment to strengthen regional cooperation in the Mediterranean by endorsing the UfM roadmap for action at the second Regional Forum of the UfM, which took place in Barcelona on 23–24 January 2017 under the theme of "Mediterranean in Action: Youth for Stability and Development". This Roadmap focuses on the following four areas of action: • Enhancing political dialogue amongst the UfM members; • Ensuring the contribution of UfM activities to regional stability and human development; • Strengthening regional integration; • Consolidating UfM capacity for action. On 22 February 2017, the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) signed a €6.5 million multi annual financial agreement to support UfM activities in favour of a more sustainable and inclusive development in the region. On 10 April 2017, the Heads of State or Government of Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain convened in Madrid at the 3rd Summit of Southern European Union Countries, where they reaffirmed their support to the Union for the Mediterranean and stressed its "
central role in the consolidation of Euro-Mediterranean regional cooperation, as an expression of co-ownership in the management of our common regional agenda in order to effectively and collectively address our current challenges". In 2017, 51 regional cooperation projects, worth over €5.3 billion, have been accorded the UfM label, through the unanimous support of the 43 Member States. Implementation of the projects is accelerating and is producing positive results on the ground. 27 November 2017 Ministers from the 43 Member countries of UfM gathered in Cairo at the 4th UfM Ministerial Conference on "Strengthening the Role of Women in Society" to agree on a common agenda to strengthen the role of women in the Euro-Mediterranean region. On 29 November 2017, the UfM Regional Stakeholder Conference on the Blue Economy, brought together over 400 key stakeholders dealing with marine and maritime issues from the entire region, including government representatives, regional and local authorities, international organisations, academia, the private sector and civil society. On 20 March 2018, the European Commission and the Government of Palestine, in partnership with the Union for the Mediterranean, hosted an international donor Pledging Conference to consolidate financial support to the construction of a large-scale desalination plant and its associated water supply infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. On 13 July 2018, the UfM celebrated its 10th anniversary, with 51 regional cooperation projects labelled, 12 regional policy platforms created and over 300 expert fora organised. == Aims and concrete projects ==