Current Situation
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 judgement can be made.
In 2007 French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed the formation of a Union for the Mediterranean which would consist principally of Mediterranean states and presumably operate outside of the auspices of the European Union.
Read more about this topic: Euromediterranean Partnership
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