The newly established Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) is in total disarray and no one really knows how it is going to function in future, especially in the wake of the war in Gaza.

The conflict between two members of the UfM, Israel and the Palestinian Authority, has prompted one of the two co-presidents of the Union, Egypt, to postpone 'indefinitely' all scheduled meetings. This was also confirmed by the current EU Czech Presidency.

"It seems that at the current pace, the Mediterranean Union will not manage to survive its first year," a senior EU official told The Sunday Times.

"The outgoing French EU Presidency, which originally came up with this idea and pushed it forward during its six-month stint at the EU's helm, didn't manage to settle the technical details on how this new partnership between the EU and the Mediterranean third countries is to be run. This is creating a lot of confusion, which is now being boosted further due to the Gaza situation."

One of the major problems is the functioning of the UfM's secretariat in Barcelona.

During a ministerial conference in Marseille, Spain had managed to beat Malta and Tunisia's bid to hold the secretariat.

As compensation, Malta was given the right to have one of seven deputy-secretaries general and a small liaison office while Tunisia was promised the top post of secretary general.

However, it now seems that Tunisia is no longer interested in holding the post, as it feels that it was snubbed by the EU over the secretariat's seat.

Tunisian government officials have openly declared that the decision to have the secretariat in Barcelona was a 'coup d'état' by Spain, as Tunisia had already been promised it by the French EU Presidency.

On the other hand, one of the other key UfM partners, Algeria, is criticising the composition of the new secretariat - with seven deputy secretary generals - for being a 'top-heavy' political organisation which will not work.

An Algerian official in Brussels told The Sunday Times that the decisions made in Marseilles on the composition of the secretariat were not serious.

"We have nothing against Malta holding one of the posts of deputy secretary general, but we can't understand why there should be seven such posts in this organisation. At the end, it was like a bazaar," he said.

EU sources said that the postponement of meetings due to the situation in Gaza could not hide the fact that doubts were mounting every day on the visibility of the UfM.

"There are too many points of divergence still on the table, and we will not be very surprised if the new Union is killed before its starts to function,' sources said.

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