摘要：Ever since ancient Roman times the Mediterranean is an important area for Europe and consequently nowadays also for the European Union. However, consecutive enlargements of the Union focussed the attention more eastward. The successive rotating presidencies of the Union always refocus and enlarge the ambit of European attention: While Finland was looking north, Germany traditionally east, the French Presidency of the Council made a conscious effort to redirect attention towards the Mediterranean, a project which had already been pushed earlier by the presidential candidate Sarkozy. The project underwent a considerable metamorphosis during its development: The original idea of a stand-alone Union of the littoral states only under French leadership was changed to an upgrading and reinforcement of the Barcelona Process initiated by the EU already in 1995. The paper traces the development of the project in its various stages, argues that the institutions of the Union played a crucial role in the Europeanization process of the project and puts it into the context of the European Neighbourhood Policy. The process is analysed from the point of view of international relations theory in general and interregionalism in particular. Finally a brief comparison of lessons learnt with another interregional process, the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) is made.
