EU seeks Mediterranean cooperation against terror

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini calls for stepped-up cooperation between Europe and its Mediterranean neighbors in North Africa and the Middle East to fight terrorism.

“The recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Tunis, those yesterday in Egypt and at the Moroccan embassy in Libya, show that we must reinforce our cooperation in the fight against terrorism,” she says at a meeting of foreign ministers from the 28 EU member states and eight nations of the southern rim of the Mediterranean.

“All nations in the region are confronted with a fragile security situation which has worsened due to several armed conflicts, mainly in Syria and Libya,” she adds.

European Union High Representative Federica Mogherini speaks during the informal Ministerial meeting gathering foreign ministers from the European Union and the southern Mediterranean nations in Barcelona on April 13, 2015. photo credit: AFP/LLUIS GENE)
European Union High Representative Federica Mogherini speaks during the informal Ministerial meeting gathering foreign ministers from the European Union and the southern Mediterranean nations in Barcelona on April 13, 2015. photo credit: AFP/LLUIS GENE)

It is the first high-level meeting of the 43-nation Mediterranean Union since the body was launched in 2008 with the aim of creating a more equal dialogue between the wealthy EU and the poorer states that line the Mediterranean.

Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority and Tunisia send representatives to the meeting as do the 28 nations that make up the European Union.

Syria, which is the target of EU sanctions as part of international attempts to isolate President Bashar al-Assad’s government, and Libya, which is engulfed in a civil war, do not take part.

AFP

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