The new Mediterranean union is also generating criticism.

新的地中海联盟也招致一些批评。

youdao

France, Spain and four others plead for more spending in the south and boosting the Union for the Mediterranean, with few or no conditions.

法国，西班牙和其他四个国家恳求几乎无条件地在南部增加支出和在地中海地区扩大欧盟势力。

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In 2009, the most recent year audited, the 31-member Cultural Council for the Union for the Mediterranean met twice.

环地中海文化协会，这个有31名成员的组织，在2009年——有案可查的最近一年，只碰过两次头。

youdao

But Mediterranean members of the European Union rejected that proposal even before the ten-day meeting began.

VOA: special.2010.12.14

The Germans were deeply angered earlier this year by Mr Sarkozy's original plan for a Mediterranean Union that would have excluded them, as they have no shoreline on the sea.

ECONOMIST: Nicolas Sarkozy

Mr Babacan says France's President Nicolas Sarkozy tried to push Turkey into accepting an alternative to EU membership by launching his plan for a "Mediterranean Union" of EU and neighbouring states.

BBC: Turkey's EU bid runs into trouble

Earlier on Saturday, Mr Sarkozy held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who will be a key player in the French leader's plan for a union of Mediterranean states.

BBC: Syria, Lebanon to open embassies