Number: RL31017
Title: The Barcelona Process: The European Union's Partnership with the Southern Mediterranean
Authors: Anja Linder and Joshua Ruebner, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division 
Abstract: European Union (EU) policy towards the Mediterranean region (MED) is governed by the comprehensive Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Initiative, launched at the 1995 Barcelona Conference between the EU and the 12 Mediterranean partners. The Barcelona Process entails a new, broader and more far-reaching agenda of cooperation with the non-EU Mediterranean countries, including the creation of a Euro-MED free trade area to be established by 2010. The Barcelona Agreement contains three chapters of cooperation: the political and security chapter; the economic and financial chapter; and the social, cultural and human chapter. It also relates directly to the Middle East peace process.
Pages: 10
Date: Updated June 12, 2001