To make this political will come true, a conjoint presidency will be born. It will be ensured by one country from the south and one from the north of the Mediterranean, , and helped by a secretary. A summit will be organized every other year and it will have to gather up 43 countries. The president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, appeared particularly thrilled by a project that can only reinforce the communication between the countries concerned. Almost 10 billion euros from the E.C. will be allocated to the 10 countries of the South. France wished that, one day, a "Political, economic and cultural union based on the principle of a strict equality between the countries of the same sea" would be born. This "new step in the cooperation of the Mediterranean" needs the boosting of the process of Barcelona which had marked the 1990s in favour of a cooperation in the Mediterranean area. Of course, this initiative which is now shared by both France and Germany won't cope with the economy of such countries as Slovenia that do not want the birth of such new structures. However, the definition of concrete projects like the ones dealing with the purification of certain areas (they are 130 today) adds up to the credibility of the UPM and to its liability. This major project aims at creating an area of privileged cooperation between the countries of the Mediterranean. It is presented by France as one of the best axis as regards foreign European policy. This ambition had to be diminished in order to gain the consent of the European, the majority of which don't want to hear about new systems of cooperation. That is why we now need to boost the process of Barcelona that started in the 1990s. The most optimistic ones will assert that a new dynamic has already been created. The most sceptical ones will show how reserved they are by claiming that the UPM is a mere attempt from France to assert throughout strength an influence that is more undergone than accepted by the European. And, still! The Mediterranean is an obviously strategic space of cooperation for the European. Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, they all are major partners, whether it be on the economic or financial level, of the countries of the Maghreb and Middle East. It is the natural extension towards the African continent and, most precisely, Western and Central Africa.

The investments, on the level of substructures, as regards the road, goods, energy and passengers transportation, have immediate consequences on the Mediterranean as one seems to be the extension of the former. That is why it is important that an ambition for Africa is reasserted in the spirit of the new boost given to the cooperation with the Mediterranean. We are at the time of Globalization, and new international agents as important as China are appearing on the continent. The raw materials this power needs for its own development explain that reality. That is why the access to the Chinese and Asian Market is, alongside the access to American and European Markets,, the backbone of a new
ambition with, and not only for, Africa.

Africa is a continent with multiple features but with linked destinies. South Africa has become a major market for heavy substructures, for Energy. It has already started facing the challenge of the civil nuclear domain. It is, with Angola, one of the heavy powers of the South of the African Continent.

North Africa, with economies that are more and more turned towards services, is the other pole of development and of transformation of the societies marked by the economic participation and response.
Central and Western Africa altogether gather up a high number of small and medium sized firms which are the reason why there's such a need to reinforce regional unions. Whether it be on the financial or industrial level, those structures already exist, and the needs are already known. The offer is diversifying in the global world in which we are now living. But the mere economic dimension should not be the only reason of a partnership with Africa: the pride of a secular and glorious past, which was often brilliant,
the pangs of colonialism, the quest of a new way to fulfil a socio economic development which started 50 years ago, all of this adds up to a contemporary identity which can be put at the
service of a social market economy. The EU has a major role to play in order to facilitate the success of such a major issue for our future.

The ambition for Africa will no doubt be based in the reinforcement of the basis of a partnership that will have to deal with issues concerning technical and professional formation, the welcome of foreign students, a policy of major works in favour of regional and local development. All too many perspectives the Union for the Mediterranean could help boosting and becoming true.