Brussels - The European Union's chief executive, Jose Manuel Barroso, gave his backing on Thursday to plans drawn up by French President Nicolas Sarkozy for a "Union for the Mediterranean.""We fully support the Mediterranean Union. We said from the beginning that it was a very good idea to have more commitment of the EU regarding the Mediterranean," Barroso, the head of the Brussels- based European Commission, said.
At the same time, he stressed that more work needed to be done on the project before it could be put into action.
"It is important that all member states of EU are engaged in it ... We still have to discuss some of the institutional aspects but we really support the idea," he said.
Sarkozy initially proposed the grouping in February 2007, as an alliance of EU and non-EU states on the Mediterranean coast.
The bloc would create common policies on security, migration, the environment, energy, development, trade, and the fight against crime and terrorism, Sarkozy said at the time.
But his proposal quickly ran into trouble as EU member states without Mediterranean coastlines, led by Germany, protested that the idea would treat them unfairly.
On March 3 Sarkozy and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed that the proposed bloc would include all 27 EU member states.
The duo are expected to brief EU counterparts on the project - now called the Union for the Mediterranean (UMed) - at a summit later on Thursday.
Sarkozy plans to launch UMed at a summit in Paris on July 13.
