EU, Mediterranean project stalled again: French FM

Oct 27, 2009 1 related

LUXEMBOURG, Oct 27, 2009 (AFP) - France's flagship Mediterranean Union has stalled again amid a dispute between Egypt and Israel, just as it appeared to be showing new signs of life, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Tuesday. "Egypt has raised objections. We've given up because the Egyptian foreign minister refuses to meet his Israeli counterpart," Kouchner told reporters in Luxembourg, on the sidelines of EU talks. Mediterranean Union foreign ministers were to have met in Istanbul next month, but the talks have been "postponed", Kouchner said. "We have to find a solution," he said. Egypt has been Israel's main Arab interlocutor since the two signed a peace treaty in 1979, but the neighbours remain at odds over peace moves and hardline Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has added to tensions. Last month, Egyptian... [read full story]